


A Hero in Hallownest

by Green_Knight_407



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2020-10-05 04:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 31
Words: 48,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20483027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Green_Knight_407/pseuds/Green_Knight_407
Summary: After leaving Termina, Link finds himself not in Hyrule, but in the ruined kingdom of Hallownest. Can he escape this new world and find his way home? Rated T for blood and probably some dark stuff later on.





	1. Where Am I?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first fanfiction, so please review it. I'm going to be writing this story alongside my second playthrough of Hollow Knight to be as accurate as possible.
> 
> I neither own The Legend of Zelda nor Hollow Knight. This is simply a fanwork and is not meant for reproduction.

Link stood in front of the door to the clock tower. Around him, the townsfolk bustled about. He took a last look around clock town, taking it in. The people, busily going about their lives, paid him no mind. He'd spent almost a month in Termina, from his perspective, but, just like last time, no one knew. Eager to leave this mess behind him and go home, he turned around and put his hand on the door.

"Do you really have to go?" Tatl asked him. The little yellow ball of light was standing on his left shoulder, talking into his ear.

"We've been over this, Tatl. Yes, I do," Link replied, sighing, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, okay," The fairy said, sulking, "Just...don't go while I'm looking."

"Okay, that's fair, now go see your brother. Make sure Skull Kid doesn't get in any more trouble," Link said.

Tatl gave a halfhearted chuckle. "Yeah, will do," she decided, before flying south, towards the entrance to the swamp, Skull Kid's favorite spot to play.

Link watched her disappear over clock town's wall, then pushed the clock tower door open and walked inside. He looked at the empty room, it had a wood floor, and a ramp descended to the bottom floor started in the back left- hand corner. Near the ramp was a large rotating pole. "It doesn't feel right without him here," he decided, observing the very mask salesman-less room, "Oh well." He walked to the ramp and descended into a room with a large door on the opposite wall, "would you look at that, now it's open," he said.

Beyond the doorway was a long hallway ending in darkness. Just like last time, when Link walked through, it rotated a full 360 ° while transforming into something else, leaving link a little disoriented. Not like last time, he didn't enter a forest, he entered…

"A cave?" Link asked, confused. Indeed, he had come out of the tunnel in a similar tunnel, but much less man-made. "Oh, Goddesses, I hope I'm in Hyrule," he said, before continuing forward. He came into a rather large chamber full of tiny light-emitting creatures. He looked at one for a moment. "That's strange, I've never seen something like this before, it looks like a fairy," he said, then he heard the creature's wings buzzing as it flew, "is it an insect?"

Link continued through the cave without incident. The rest of the tunnel was straight and dark, and would have been scary had he not bottled one of those bugs from earlier. He walked for a long while before he saw a (very) dim light at the end of the tunnel. Not the light from the bugs, a gray, natural light like a very cloudy day would bring.

"The surface!" he eagerly exclaimed, as he began sprinting toward it as fast as he could. He reached the light and came out of the tunnel in a vast, gray desert covered in the corpses of what appeared to be giant bugs, the wind howling for miles, blowing sand into his eyes. "This doesn't look like Hyrule," he said, disappointed. He then looked up and saw the black sky completely devoid of a sun or stars. "This definitely isn't Hyrule," he decided, letting out a long groan, "another alternate world!? I just wanted to go home!" he finished, speaking into the wasteland, he then took several deep breaths, "okay, Link, deeeeep breaths, deeeeep breaths. Calm down. 1st step of Y the Survivalist's guide to adventuring: Find out where you are." he said.

He looked about the windswept wasteland around him.

"Not doing that one anytime soon."

"Alright, step two is to start walking," he said looking around. Seeing nothing of note, he walked in a random direction.

Or so he thought.

Hornet, perched on her cliffside ledge above the blowing sand, watched the wasteland. She was the protector of Hallownest's ruins, her purpose was to protect the dead kingdom from outside intruders. There were many types of bugs she'd seen crawling out of the dust to the sacred land. She'd seen it all. She was prepared for anything.

Or so she thought until this bright green creature wandered out of the wind.

Hornet had seen green bugs before, she'd been to that overgrown road many times over, that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that this creature  _ wasn't _ a bug.

Now, this wasn't an inherent problem either. The vessel that passed through earlier and the ooma in the canyon weren't bugs, but this creature, there was something  _ wrong _ with this creature.

Link had been walking for three hours when he came across a towering cliffside of black rock. He looked it over. Nothing of note, really, just a perfectly normal black cliff in a gray desert. He heaved a huge sigh and turned around to walk back, but something held him there where he was, some inner feeling that he could achieve all his heart's desires at the top of those cliffs. He turned back around just in time to see a person in red appear on the top of a small ledge some thirty feet up. It had a strange horned mask on its face and held a long sword.

The person spoke up, "what manner of creature are you that would intrude on the sacred kingdom of Hallownest!? Whatever you may be, leave now or I will destroy you!" the woman, it now being apparent that it was female, yelled.

"Oh, a person!" Link said to himself, then waved and called out, "Hey! I think I'm a bit lost, could you point me in the direction of the nearest town?"

The woman jumped down from her ledge to a lower one, then said to the hero, "no one finds their way to Hallownest by accident. Now tell me, strange creature, why are you here?"

Link let out a little groan. "I don't know why I'm here. I came out of Termina in a cave a few miles back and I started walking this direction. I'm quite sure I don't know what this 'Hallownest' place is," he said, "I'm just trying to find the nearest civilization."

The strange woman looked at him hard for a time. "You lie," she decided, "There is only one civilization in the world, and it died many years ago. Prepare to be cut down!" She then leapt off her perch toward the young hero. Link gave a tired sigh and got out his sword and shield as she landed some ten feet in front of him.

"Always fighting," he murmured to himself as she charged.


	2. Skirmish With Hornet

Link braced for impact as the woman in red charged, sword and shield in hand. He was never one to underestimate an enemy, but he had defeated a god on his last adventure, so he thought he could handle this battle. He was the hero of time, after all.  
The red woman suddenly stopped mid-charge and hurled her sword like a javelin. Link, decidedly not caught off guard, simply blocked it with his shield, deflecting it harmlessly to the right. The sword was apparently attached to some sort of rope, however, as the woman simply yanked it back into her hands. Link, still thoroughly not surprised by these twists, simply got out his bow, nocked an arrow, and fired in one smooth motion. The woman, however, did seem to be surprised by this, as she let out a yell before being struck square in the side. This did not deter her, however, as she removed the arrow and charged again.  
"Okay, she's a tough one," Link said to himself, getting his sword-shield combo back out. He, again, wasn't surprised by this. He'd fought plenty of enemies with what seemed like supernatural endurance before, and this woman had a warrior's stance. She approached him and began a horizontal swipe from his right to his left. Link blocked with his shield again, angling it to send the swipe over his head, leaving an opening for him to strike, and he thrust his sword right into her abdomen.  
It should be noted that Link's sword was the finest work of the greatest smith in Termina. Gilded with gold and razor sharp, and his mirror shield could deflect any energy-based attack back to the sender, so when the woman, whose body, Link now realized, was completely black, was stabbed hard with his gilded sword, it did some damage. She was stunned for just a moment, then leapt backwards and into the air a considerable distance, landing with a light thud.  
"I am Hornet, the protector of Hallownest," she told him, "it is clear to me now that you are powerful enough to proceed. Enter this ancient and sacred kingdom, but beware, Hallownest accepts only the strong." She threw her sword up to one of the ledges in the cliffs, it embedded itself into the rock, and using it much like a grappling hook, she swung up onto the ledge, "Good luck, green creature," she finished, before swinging onto the top of the cliff and disappearing over the edge.  
"'Green creature', really? 'Green creature'?" Link said disdainfully. He looked the cliffs over again and got out his hookshot. "Worth a try," he said before pointing it just above the lowest ledge and firing it. The hook shot out it a long arc before latching onto the stone and beginning to pull him upward. He swung towards the cliff face, because gravity, and began to run up the wall as the contraption pulled him along. He reached the outcropping of the ledge and jumped up onto it. "What do you know, it worked," he said, aiming the machine again.

When Link made it to the top of the cliff he was surprised to see a well lit, slowly inclining path with small stairs running up the whole way. At even intervals on the right side of the path was a series of poles with strange glowing orbs on either side. The poles were what looked like iron bent into intricate, curving patterns. He began wandering down the path. Eventually he came to the end of the path, where the stairs stopped at a sheer drop.  
Far beyond the cliff face, Link could see another lamp lit trail leading to a bundle of lights Link could only hope was a town. Far below him was another landing, but this one was walled in. He thought he could see a door on the wall in front of him down there. Without skipping a beat, he jumped, spun around, and drove his sword into the cliff wall behind him, substantially slowing his descent. He slid all the way to the bottom into a circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter. Across the room was an empty doorway surrounded by a pile of rubble that Link assumed must have been the door at one point. He walked through, then proceeded to pass under about five more doors that had been smashed in a similar way, passing by the corpses of two huge bugs that looked like a cross between an ant and an armadillo.  
"Something came through here recently," he whispered to himself, "this place feels too quiet."  
He walked into another large chamber filled with floating stone platforms as well as more bug corpses, this time including winged creatures as well. Above his head and behind him was another tunnel. Link could do a few impressive jumps and flips, but he was in no way a parkour artist, so instead of jumping up all those platforms he used his hookshot to grapple his way up to the ledge. He walked through the tunnel, pausing to look at a strange egg shaped rock, and came into yet another large chamber filled with platforms and littered with corpses. He passed through in the same way he did the other room, then came to a split. To his right was a paved path, and to his left was a small chamber with strange plants. They looked like the cattails that grew by Lake Hylia, but instead of a sausage (as Link thought of it) on the end, it had a blue, butterfly shaped...thing on the end. He walked into the chamber, and noticed that his boots suddenly felt wet. He looked down to see a puddle of bright blue liquid on the ground. He knelt down to examine it, dipped his finger in it, and tasted it. It was a little tingly, and made him feel the slightest bit rejuvenated. "Interesting…" he said, then stood back up and headed down the other path.  
The road was rather smooth and straight. There were a few gaping holes, but he bypassed these by swinging over them with his hookshot. He came to another doorway with a smashed door, but this time it was huge, four times his height at least. Next to it was another round stone. This gave him pause, and he decided to look closer at this one. On in were a bunch of strange, arcane carvings that he couldn't interpret. He looked at it a while longer, then walked out the doorway onto a strange stone balcony on the side of the cliffs. From this closer vantage point he could see that the bundle of lights from earlier was, in fact, a town.  
"Yes!" he cried, "I'm saved! Maybe someone there can tell me where I am, and what all this 'Hallownest' stuff is about."


	3. The Forgotten Crossroads

As Link approached the town, he noticed that there weren’t any people around, Further, he also realized all the windows were boarded shut. He entered the square and saw a large, round bug with a vaguely human face and long horns standing next to a metal bench bench. It was wearing a gray cloak and had a black body much like Hornet’s. It was about as tall as Link and gave off the same vibe an old man would. Link approached him.

“Greetings, traveler. I’m afraid this town is quite empty. Everyone else left, you see,” the old bug said. “They all went down that well over there,” he jerked his head, indicating that he was speaking of the other side of town, “One by one, into the caverns below. You’re the third bug to pass through here recently, though I’ve never seen a bug such as yourself. There used to be a great kingdom down there, but it was ruined many years ago. Somehow it still draws people down there, it seems to promise everything from wealth and glory to enlightenment. I’m sure you seek your dreams down there too.”

“Actually,” Link replied, “I’m not here for any reason that I know of. I just found this place today. That kingdom wouldn’t happen to be named Hallownest, would it?”

The old bug seemed taken aback by that question, “Yes, it would. How did you know that?” he asked.

“No reason,” Link quickly replied.

“Well, if you’re going down there, be careful, bugs go mad and are robbed of their memories when they descend into those depths,” he said.

“Will do, thanks,” Link said, starting to walk away.

“Oh, and one more thing, young bug,” said the old bug. Link turned around. “What’s your name?”

“Link,” said Link, “what about you?”

“You can call me Elderbug,” he said.

“Nice to meet you, Elderbug,” Link said, then walked off in the direction of the well. “So everyone here is a bug, I guess,” he reasoned.

The well was just outside town, a completely normal looking well, but ever since having gone through two dungeons at the bottoms of wells, he didn’t trust them. Just beyond the well was a graveyard with a broken gate, never a good sign. Nevertheless, Link grabbed hold of the chain that descended to the bottom and climbed down.

He came down onto a road that ran through a massive underground cavern. The view to either side was similar, but on his left, there was a trail of bug corpses, one of which looked relatively humanoid. Link decided to follow it. He walked down to a doorway and into another cavern, this one not nearly as huge, but still big.Inside the cavern was a large building shaped like a Huge bug with the mouth as a doorway. He walked in.

Inside was nothing but a huge black ball with an oval shape on the front. On this oval were adorned three white masks. Another bug stood inspecting the ball. He was somewhat skinny, incorrectly wore a mask on his head (like one would wear a hat) and had a sword on his hip. Link approached.

The bug noticed him approaching and spoke up, “Ah, another traveler! These old ruins really have come alive. This is a wondrous place, really, just look upon this,” he said, indicating to the black ball, “a giant stone egg, what could be inside, I wonder. Is it possible to open?”

“Oh, it’s an egg. I really couldn’t tell, thanks,” Link replied.

“Not a problem,” the bug said, “I simply love uncharted and wild places. I’m Quirrel, by the way, nice to meet you.”

“Link”

“I’m almost done here, Link. Where are you going next? Perhaps I could join you for a time,” Quirrel said.

“Nowhere in particular, there’s a trail of dead bugs outside, and I was following it to see if I could find the person making them.”

Quirrel thought for a moment. “A little bug passed through here earlier. I tried to talk to him but he didn’t say anything. He gave off an air of strength, however,” he said, "that might be the bug you're looking for, but he came through a while ago."

“Alright, let’s go,” Link said, starting out of the building.

The pair followed the trail through a series of caverns, all littered with bodies, until they reached a large, cylindrical cavern full of circular platforms suspended from ropes. The trail led to a ledge on the cavern’s other side and through a few caverns full of spikes and into a small room. There was a corpse of a very strange creature in the room. It looked like a hollow cylinder with its mouth on its top. Its legs were sharp like blades.

“It’s like a like-like with legs,” said Link, remembering the horrifying slimes that made off with his items back in Hyrule.

“What’s this like-like creature you speak of?” Quirrel asked.

“Like this but without legs,” Link replied, then thought for a while, “smaller too.”

Quirrel laughed. “ My fault for asking huh?” he asked.

“Yep.”

The trail then led them back into another cavern that seemed to be under the cylindrical room from earlier. There was a hole in the floor leading to more caverns and tunnels. Across the room was a strange bug with an elephant trunk-like protrusion on its face surrounded by papers, writing on a paper he was holding in his hand. The two approached.

“Ah, greetings, travelers, I am Cornifer, a map maker by trade. I love to discover new places. Getting lost and finding your way is truly a pleasure only we explorers share, but no matter. I’ve been working on making a map of this area, would you like to see what I have so far? I’ll sell it to you for 30 geo,” the bug said.

Link just about responded with “what’s geo?” before remembering that Quirrel had explained this world’s currency to him, and he’d even picked up around 50 of the things. “Yeah, I’ll buy a map,” Link said, fishing out his geo.

“I’d like one as well,” said Quirrel, also handing Cornifer his geo.

“Thank you kindly,” replied Cornifer, taking their geo and handing out two maps. “Hope to see you soon.”

“You too,” said Quirrel, “oh, and did you happen to see a little creature with a gray cloak and two horns on its head?”

“I did, he came right through here and even bought a map. I think he went that way,” he said, indicating toward a hole in the ground to his left.

“Thank you Cornifer. My name is Quirrel, and this is Link,” Quirrel said, leading Link away.

“Good luck!” Cornifer called.

  
  


They followed the trail into a long cavern full of huge, armored worms. Figuring there was nowhere to go but forward, they cautiously made their way in between the creatures. They were surprisingly fast, but as they had no eyes, and took seemingly no notice of their surroundings, the task was doable. After they got to the other side, one of the bugs their predecessor hadn't slain attacked them. It was defeated by the pair in a few seconds, however.

"Link?" Quirrel asked.

"Yeah?"

"Pardon me for asking, but your nail looks a little strange," Quirrel said, looking at Link's unsheathed sword, "might I inquire as to why?"

"My nail?" Link asked, confused.

Quirrel had talked with Link enough to know that he was unfamiliar with many of the terms in Hallownest, replied, "your weapon," and indicated toward the object.

"Oh! Right, so that's what you call them here. Where I'm from, we call these swords, and these shields," Link said, raising his sword and shield respectively. "I was wondering why no one had crossguards or pommels. I guess they're not standard here," he finished, pointing to both the mentioned parts of his sword.

"Ah, I understand. You must have come a long way from home, Link," said Quirrel.

"You have no idea."

  
  


They came to the next room on a high ledge. Above them was another ledge hanging from the ceiling, with a hole above it leading to another room. Below them were more of the floating platforms that seemed to be all over Hallownest. Link looked around. “Where do you think he went now?” he asked. Quirrrel leapt onto the ceiling ledge with the jumping ability that so many bugs possessed, and examined the ground.

“Either two bugs came through here, or he passed twice,” he said after a moment, “what do you think?”

“Might as well check in case of the former,” Link replied, then got out his hookshot and grappled up to the ledge. They passed a few steps through the room above, and saw a sign pointing at the exit in front of them. It had the head of some type of creature on it. They followed the trail into a small room. It had a bench near the entrance, and on the other side was a small drop-off into a tunnel that extended to the right and left. By the ledge was a fence with a missing segment, functioning as a sort of gate, a large sign, and a pole with a bell hanging from it. “Well this is…homely,” Link said, “I wonder what the bell is for.”

“Ring it,” Quirrel replied simply. Link rang the bell. Almost instantly, they heard a thunderous sound echoing through the room, and in a few seconds a giant six-legged creature with a two-seated saddle on its back.

“Ah, more travellers,” It said, in a deep voice, “The ringing of that bell is such a sweet sound. I am the last stag. Once we transported Hallownest’s citizens all over the kingdom, but then the nation crumbled, and our nest was destroyed. The other survivors escaped, but I will always come to the call of the bell as long as there are those who need my services.”

“Oh. Well where can you take us?” Link asked.

“Alas, the other stag stations are closed. I know of only one other open station, in the town on the surface.”

“Okay, well, I guess we don’t need your help right now.”

“In that case, I’ll take my leave. If you ever require my services, you need only ring one of the bells, and I shall come.”

The stag started to leave, but first Link said “actually, wait.” The stag stopped, “have you seen a little bug with a cloak? We’re trying to find him,” he finished.

“As a matter of fact I have,” the stag replied, “He’s the one who opened this station. He didn’t take a ride, however. Just walked right back out.”

“Thanks,” said Link, and the stag left. “What do you think, Quirrel? I think he went back through the room from earlier”

“I think that’s as good a direction as any,” Quirrel replied, “ but first I think we should have a rest,” he said walking towards the bench, “and you can tell me of your homeland. It sounds like a very interesting place indeed!”

“Yeah, alright,” Link said, and the two sat, as Link told Quirrel of his adventures in Hyrule, his journey through Termina, and his subsequent arrival in Hallownest. Of being thrown through time seven years, of rescuing the seven sages, and defeating Ganon. He told him how he fell into Termina looking for Navi, saved the four giants, called them to stop the moon, and of acquiring the Fierce Deity’s mask and defeating Majora. Then how he had come to the kingdom of Hallownest. All the while, Quirrel listened intently, and when they finally left, their friendship was all the stronger.


	4. The Underground Village and the Empty Armor

Link took a look at the giant dead bug. Like before, with the like-like like creature, they found it already dead when they entered the room. This time, it looked like a giant version of the gruzzers from earlier. It was round and gray, with a white face and a trunk. It’s stomach seemed to have burst open. "Looks tough," he said.

"Indeed, this bug we are trailing is stronger than I first thought," Quirrel responded, "Link, if you may permit my asking, why are you following it?"

"Not really any real reason," said Link, "I saw the trail of bodies when I came here, and thought that'd be as good a direction to go as any. I guess I also thought my ability to get home would have something to do with it, seeing as last time, I had to defeat a powerful being to move on. I don't know if he's a good guy or a bad guy yet, though."

"Hahaha! Well, I guess I have nowhere better to go, either. Let's see what's in the next room, shall we?" Quirrel said, and the pair walked out of the room. They came out onto a ledge overlooking a huge cavern. There was what looked like an abandoned village below. One of the houses was on it's own little ledge and slightly bigger than the others. This house also had a light inside it, and just seemed generally less run-down and abandoned. "Wondrous! An old town, I wonder who it is that would still live here, in this ruined kingdom," Quirrel said.

"I dunno, maybe they don't care," Link replied.

"Or perhaps they're some kind of explorer or collector. Something requiring them to stay here despite the danger," Quirrel theorized.

“One way to find out,” Link said, firing his hookshot and swinging across the gap, “Woooooo!” he shouted as he flew through the air. Quirrel, for his part, jumped down and simply walked to the ledge as Link touched down.

“Link, I can’t jump that high,” he said, “Can you pull me up?”

“Sure,” Link replied, he then shot his hookshot into the ground at Quirrel’s feet with a  _ thud _ . “Grab on,” he said. Quirrel Grabbed the hookshot’s chain, and Link pulled him up the side of the rock as the chain retracted. He grabbed the side of the ledge and hauled himself up, then they turned towards the building. It was a large round shell, with some signs up around it that read ‘Charm Shop’. There was a light pink smoke wafting out of the door, and a bench nearby. They walked through the door, inside was a giant slug-like creature with pink lips, sitting behind a counter.

“Ohohohohohohoho! Welcome!” said the slug, “this is my charm shop. Come in, Come in and make yourself at home, I’m Salubra. I bet the lovely townsfolk out there told you to visit me, didn’t they?”

“No, they’re dead.” Link said, quite bluntly.

“ _ Link! _ ” Quirrel whispered under his breath.

“What?”

“Oh, no. How unfortunate. Well, I can still talk about charms with you two bugs, in fact, I’m surprised you don’t have any, you look like the adventurous sort. Charms are gorgeous, one-of-a-kind accessories with a spark of power in their core. Your life can change just by wearing them! Take a look at some of the charms I have for sale, if you want, you can take some home with you,” said Salubra, indicating towards a rack on the counter. On the rack were five small medallions with intricate designs, four of what looked like frames for such medallions, made of white shellwood, and another charm-like object with Salubra’s likeness on it.

“Uh, alright,” Link said, looking at the supply, he picked up a charm with a glowing blue design in the center.

“Oooooh, that one? Tell me, have you ever drank that blue liquid, ‘lifeblood’?” salubra asked.

“Can’t say I have,” Link replied.

“It’s a little taboo, but it makes you feel much healthier. That charm will certainly improve your constitution!” said Salubra.

“Can I try it out?”

“I don’t see why not.”

Link tried to put the charm on, but realized he didn’t know how. “How do I use this?” he asked.

“Ahaha! Certain charms require certain numbers of notches to be used. If you want to equip one, and have enough empty notches, it should simply be absorbed into your heart,” came Salubra’s response.

“Oh, and what are ‘notches’?” said Link.

“You don’t know? Most bugs have at least a few notches already built into them when they're born, but now that I look at you, you don't look like a normal bug. Notches are what contain the power of a charm inside of you," Salubra said.

At this point, Quirrel interjected in the conversation, "this is all well and good, Salubra, but we're looking for someone. Did a small bug with a gray cloak come through here?"

"Hmm," Salubra thought for a moment, "no, I don't think so," she decided.

"Ah, that makes sense," said Quirrel, "if I couldn't jump that ledge, I doubt that it could either."

"Okay, let's go then," Link said, "see you, Salubra."

"Ohohoho! Do come back!" Salubra called as they left the shop.

  
  


The two found a way back to the chamber above (right before where they'd found the giant gruzzer) in the form of some floating platforms on the other side of the village, and in said chamber ascended again to the room above, then through a doorway into a long, tubular room, standing on a metal platform with a giant, metal box-like object suspended from a metal rail. It had a door on the side and next to the door was a much smaller metal box (a little shorter than Link) with a slot on it. The door was closed, however, and when Quirrel tried it, it was locked “obviously, he can’t have gone anywhere from here,” he said.

“Nope,” Link replied and they left the room.

They followed the trail, still littered with bug corpses, into another room with a corpse of a huge version of the round bugs, walking upright, they’d encountered in other rooms, this one wielding a massive club. “Impressive,” Link said.

“Indeed,” came Quirrel’s response. Further down the room, in a small tunnel, they found two of the aforementioned round bugs’ corpses. On the other side of the tunnel was a massive, empty room, with a platform above them and a series of three ledges leading to a room above, a large part of the ceiling was collapsed. A gigantic suit of armor laid in the center. In was slumped over in a lying down position, and the helmet was split in half down the middle, retracted to either side, it seemed that it hadn’t been cut so much as opened, however.

“So little Mr. Bug killed this thing on its own, huh?” Link said, putting his hand to his chin and thinking, before laughing and saying “maybe we shouldn’t be following him, after all,” then laughed some more. “Just makes me want to meet him more, though. How about you?” he finished, turning towards Quirrel.

“Well, as you know, I’ve already met him, and he didn’t attack me,” Quirrel responded. “I don’t think he fights except in self-defense, so you probably don’t have much cause for worry. One can never be too careful, though.”

“True. Anyway, wanna check up there?” said Link indicating to the ledges and platform behind them.

"Sure," replied Quirrel, followed by the usual plan of Link using his hookshot or climbing, and Quirrel jumping, to get up the ledges. They got to the top and walked through a short tunnel, then came to a seemingly dead end.

"Dang," said Link, "dead end"

"Not so," Quirrel contradicted, then pointed upward. As it turned out, there was a rather large hole above them. There was a ledge above and behind them, and Link thought he could see a room at the top. "I can't jump to that ledge, but perhaps you can reach it," he finished. Link nodded and they repeated the process they used to get to Salubra earlier. Link grappled to the ledge, then fired his hoolshot at Quirrel's feet. He grabbed on and Link pulled him back up. They walked down the tunnel behind them and came to a large room (though not as big as the one below them) with a huge gaping hole in the floor. They were standing on a large outcropping of rock that probably used to be the floor. "I suppose that this is the collapsed ceiling from the room below us," Quirrel said, looking down to see, as predicted, the titanic set of armor from before. On the other side of the gap was another outcropping of rock like the one they were standing on, "I can't jump there either, Link," he said.

"I could swing us both across,” Link suggested.

“Can your hookshot hold the weight?”

“Hmm, good point. Maybe we cou- Wait, do you hear that?” Link asked. They were both silent for a moment, and sure enough, they could hear what sounded like sobbing coming from...somewhere. Link’s hero complex then took over and he told Quirrel “stay here. I’ll be right back,” before swinging over the edge on his own and sprinting into the doorway on the other side. He went up several more ledges, ran through a long room and jumped down two more ledges before running into another room where two fat white creatures with six stubbly arms each were crying over another one that was lying down, dead. As soon as they laid their eyes on Link, they started yelling and trying to run away from him (something that was impossible, given that he was standing in the only exit).

“P-please don’t kill us!” one of them stuttered, realizing it couldn’t get away, “We c-can g-give- w-we can give you-”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Link said sweetly, “I’m not gonna kill you, it’s alright. Calm down.” The creatures stopped running and looked at him timidly. “What’s wrong? Why were you crying?” he asked.

One of the creatures pointed towards its dead companion which, despite being definitely dead (Link had seen enough death in Termina to distinguish it) was behaving like someone sleeping with a nightmare would. Link kneeled down next to the dead creature and examined it for a moment. Then he stood up, collected his thoughts, took out the Ocarina of Time, brought it to his lips, and played.

What followed was a beautiful, joyous, sorrowful song that brought a tear and a smile to anyone who heard it. A song that stitched the wounds in one’s heart and made them whole. A song that had mended the spirits of Darbia, Mikau, and Link himself when their souls were troubled. Link played the Song of Healing.

When the song had finished, the creature stopped its stirring, sat still for a moment, let out one last sigh, and fell completely limp onto the floor. Then, it began to glow a bright gold for about two seconds, and disappeared, leaving behind a metal mask with two large eyeholes, two small eyeholes above those, and two massive horns. Link bent down to pick it up and put it away in his pack.

“You...fixed him,” One of the white creatures whispered.


	5. The Snail Shaman

Quirrel was waiting for Link down by the armor when he returned. "What happened? I heard a most wonderful song echoing through these walls, then the armor's helmet here disappeared," said Quirrel, pointing toward the armor which was, sure enough, missing the split helmet from earlier.

"Remember what I told you about the song of healing? How I had to heal Darbia and Mikau's souls, then they turned into masks? Well..." said Link, pulling out the mask and showing it to Quirrel. "I don't know what to call it yet. Apparently the thing in that armor was this fat white creature with six arms."

"Ah, a maggot. Normally they're very weak creatures, I wonder how one would acquire such powerful armor," Quirrel responded.

"Here come the other two now, maybe they know?" said Link, pointing toward the room's entrance, where two maggots were descending the ledges holding a wooden pole with a blue sign on the end between them. They walked up to the armor, stuck the sign in the ground, and hurried off out of the room. Link walked over to the sign, which was a little taller than he was, and read it aloud, "'Here fell the False Knight.' I like that name. I'll call this the False Knight's mask," he said holding the mask out in front of him, "Hey, I wonder if it'll still attach to the suit," he said, then walked over and placed the mask where it used to be on the head hole of the armor. He heard a click, and let go of the mask, it stayed on the armor without falling off. "Heh, nice," he remarked, then moved to remove it. Suddenly, the entire suit of armor began to shine as if reflecting a bright light. The armor slowly began to glow it's own bright white, and in a flash of light, it disappeared, leaving behind only the mask.

"Well, that was a light show," Link decided.

Quirrel, who had watched the whole ordeal without saying a word, spoke up then, "Link, aren't you going to put the mask on?"

"Oh! Yeah, of course," Link replied, he picked up the mask off the ground and put it on his head. Almost immediately, his body went rigid and his arms flew out to his sides. Metal plates extended out of the sides of the mask, encasing his head in a helmet. More plates extended from the bottom rim of the helmet, making their way down his body. Within a few moments, he was completely encased in steel. His posture relaxed and he exhaled loudly. He brought his hand up to the mask's eye holes and looked at it, then brought it down and looked at the rest of his body.

"Portable armor, nice!" he exclaimed.

"That will most definitely be useful in the future," said Quirrel, nodding approvingly.

"Yeah, really," Link replied, "a little on the heavy side, though, and  _ man _ if the air isn't getting stale in here. I wonder if I can take of the face plate without removing the-" He was interrupted by the mask on the armor splitting straight down the middle and opening to either side, revealing his face, "well, that's convenient," he said.

"Indeed," came Quirrel's response, "well, let's be on our way, Link," he finished, motioning for Link to follow him and leading out a tunnel on the opposite side of the room from where they entered. Link closed the armor's face plate and took off the mask, then jogged to catch up with him. They walked through the passage for a short while, then came across a tall pile of rocks right below a hole in the ceiling. After looking up, Quirrel realized that there was another tunnel parallel to theirs starting just where the collapse was. After he pointed this out, they ascended to the ledge and began walking. The tunnel was very short however, and they came directly into a tiny chamber. In the middle was a torch mounted on a wooden stake, and next to it was another pole with what looked like a skull with long horns and no mouth. Above them was another floating platform and a ledge just behind. Link noticed then that in the ground was embedded many more 'skulls', these were different from the one on the pole, as they were rounder and smaller with no horns. "Link, do you see this head?" asked Quirrel, pointing to the top of the pole, "the creature we are trailing has a head similar to this, with smaller horns."

"Good to know," Link replied. They went up the ledge and down another tunnel dotted with more torches and stakes on which were mounted fangs and different types of skulls, up another ledge, and came out into a large room with a strange building in the middle. It looked like a series of rib bones surrounding the actual building. More torches and skulls surrounded the door, from which a faint light emanated. Link and Quirrel looked at each other for a moment, then simultaneously drew their weapons and cautiously approached. They walked through a long and narrow tunnel, arriving in a large round room, with the very ground and walls almost  _ made _ of skulls and bones. Right next to them was a bench made from bones, and a little further ahead was what looked like a (very) small hut made from a set of ribs and a spine. A little further was a doorway into another room. Standing next to the hut was a strange creature. Its form was humanoid, but it was jet black with white eyes. It wore a snail shell on its head, a necklace of tiny skulls around its neck, and held a staff that had a small skull and a little gray cloak on the top in its hand. It waved to them with its staff hand when they walked inside.

"Oh! Even more creatures out from the darkness of old Hallownest. Perhaps they need my help as well. Come, friends, come!" it said to them in an ever so slightly high voice. Link and Quirrel approached warily. "You need not fear me, I will not attack you. I can't say the same for the other creatures here though, ohoho! I am the Snail Shaman. If you need help with anything, just say the word and I'll do what I can."

Link looked very hard at the Snail Shaman for a long moment, then put his sword and shield away, Quirrel followed. "Has a short bug with horns and a gray cloak come through here by any chance?" Quirrel asked.

"As a matter of fact, yes," the Snail Shaman replied, "I gave it a spell, and it even slayed a most dreadful creature that was haunting my caverns. Why do you ask?"

"We are looking for it," said Quirrel.

"Ohoho! Looking for it, are you? Well, I don't know where it went, but it did come through here, I know that," said the Snail Shaman.

"Ah, thank you. We must be off now, but I hope to see you again," Quirrel said.

"Goodbye, Quirrel. Goodbye, Link." said the Snail Shaman. Quirrel jumped a little at that, but Link just turned around and started to leave. "Oho! Do not be surprised, my friend. I know many things," he finished. Quirrel looked at him for a time, then followed Link back out.

* * *

They made their way back to the tunnel with the collapse, and continued on their original route. At the end of the tunnel, they passed some sort of lever. Link tried to pull it, but it wouldn't budge, so they moved on. They walked out into the same round room where they'd met Cornifer, only Cornifer had left, leaving only some papers and a note which for some odd reason really caught the eye. "So the lever opened up the tunnel into this room, and that's why the exit wasn't here earlier. Say, our little bug didn't leave a trail in here as there are no monsters, what should we do?" Quirrel remarked as Link picked up and read the note.

"Cornifer has a shop in Dirtmouth, now Elderbug can have some company," Link remarked absentmindedly, dropping the note, "and yes there is a trail. Look where the papers are crumpled, I doubt Cornifer would step on his own work."

"Ah, yes! If I remember correctly, he left a paper on the second platform up there," replied Quirrel, pointing to the platform nearest the exit to the room above. He jumped up both platforms, then called down to Link, "It is true! He went this way." So the pair returned to the cylindrical chamber with the floating discs from earlier. At first, it was hard to distinguish the new trail from the old one, but soon Quirrel discovered that one of the many ledges in the room—the one overgrown with greenery—had a corpse on it where before it had none, so they entered


	6. Enter: The Knight!

“‘The Pilgrim’s Way

Travelers of Hallownest, descend through these verdant wilds and fungal

Groves to the city at this kingdom’s heart.

There all wishes shall be granted, all truths revealed.’ The heck is that supposed to mean?” said Link. He was reading a sign that had presented itself to him and Quirrel front and center when they had walked into this room. They’d just left the crossroads following the little bug’s trail and came onto a stone bridge dotted with hedges. This rather large sign stood right where the bridge started.

“Obviously, it means we’ll find out what it means at the city,” Quirrel responded.

Link laughed, “Good point. I guess we should keep going now, huh?” he said, starting to walk across the bridge.

“Yes, we probably should,” said Quirrel, following. They walked to the other side of the bridge and found the body of a creature that looked like a cross between a mole and an armadillo, twice Link’s height with a deep blue outer shell.

“Looks like it did come through here after all,” said Link, “every time we find something like this I want to meet it more.”

“It is indeed quite a strange bug,” Quirrel said. They continued through a short tunnel and came out in a huge cavern. At the bottom was a huge pool of bubbling acid that covered the entire floor, besides a few stone ‘islands,’ and the chamber was full of floating platforms. As they made their way across, the platforms became more and more overgrown, until when they got to the other side the entire wall was covered in greenery. They entered a small tunnel that led upward to a ledge high on the wall, and walked down another tunnel until they arrived in an enormous cavern full of life. Any color other than green was a rarity, and the sound of wildlife was all around. Many rocks, cliffs, and ledges occupied the cavern, making sounds echo about.

“This place is...beautiful,” Link whispered.

“Yes, it is truly a wonder,” replied Quirrel.

They continued through another similar cavern, then came into a room that was much shorter across, but also much higher there was one other exit across the room from the pair, and above both doorways was a rather large outcropping of rock. A very big floating platform hovered in the middle of the room. Right when Link and Quirrel entered, they glimpsed a small bug with a white head, two horns, and a gray cloak leaving through the other doorway. “It is the bug!” exclaimed Quirrel, “quickly, let us follow him!”

“Right!” said Link. The two ran across the chamber after it, running through the door and into another tunnel that seemed to be very man-made, then came out on a ledge overlooking another cavern. It was a small, cube-ish room, it had a drop off on the other side, and another ledge on the wall across it. Hornet was standing on the ledge, while the little bug was on the floor they were looking down and up respectively at each other. Link gasped, “That’s Hornet! What’s she doing here?” he whisper-yelled. Hornet seemed to hear that as she looked up, across the room, at the two partners, then leapt backwards out of the room. “Oh no you don’t!” Link yelled, before firing his hookshot into the ceiling and swinging onto the other ledge, then sprinting after Hornet. The little bug watched all this with a level of indifference that cannot be described with words, while Quirrel took more than a few moments to process everything that had happened and how quickly, then jumped down from the ledge to talk to the little bug.

“Greetings,” he said, the little bug turned to look at him, “please excuse my friend Link, he can be a bit...unpredictable at times. Now, as I doubt he’ll be back any time soon, and I can’t jump that high, I’m off to find him.” He walked to the other side of the room and jumped down, leaving the little bug alone. Any normal creature would be confused by all this, but the little bug, betraying no emotion in its black eyes, just followed Quirrel out of the room.

* * *

Link chased Hornet into another room full of stone platforms and pillars and dotted with ponds of the same green bubbling acid from before. She was very agile and light on her feet, so she gave Link a hard time keeping up with her as the leapt, swung, and climbed from platform to platform. She led him on into another similar cavern, jumping onto two successive platforms and into doorway, Link followed her into the inside of a man made tower, where she ascende a floor through a hole in the ceiling. Link followed, but in entering the room above he found Hornet had stopped running, and was standing with her back to Link, holding her weapon out towards him. “Why do you chase me, outsider? I have no more business with you,” she said.

“Ah- uh…good question,” Link responded, “I want to know what’s going on here. Why is everyone so dead?”

“That is not for me to tell you, it is for you to discover on your own. Now cease to follow me, for I have business to attend to.”

Link imitated her in a mocking fashion, “tHaT’s FoR yOu To DiScOvEr On YoUr OwN. Do you have any idea how much I’ve heard that crap?”

Hornet was taken aback by that, and turned around to actually face Link, staring hard at him. “You are strange, outsider. Tell me your name,” she said.

“Link.”

“Link, we may well meet again, but right now I have business with that little ghost. Follow me if you must, but do not interfere," said Hornet, before turning about and leaving the tower through another doorway.

"Well, well, well. Quite the talker aren't we?" said Link, chuckling. "Don't worry, I won't follow you. I was just a little mad you tried to attack me that one time, that's all." Of course there was no one there to hear his words, but he was beyond caring at that point, so he set off.

* * *

  
  


**Some time later…**

Quirrel emerged from the long, narrow, and treacherous tunnel and surveyed the surrounding area. He was in a cavern on the bank of a large lake of acid, in front of him was a metal pier that extended a ways into the lake. On the shore next to the pier was a tall stone building that looked to be built out of many stone ‘rings’ or ‘layers,’ and had a doorway in the front. A big green bug was standing on the edge of the pier, staring out into the lake. He almost went to talk to it, but decided against it. He walked inside the building and found a round and mostly barren room with a stone backless bench in the middle and a ruined statue of a round creature in the back. Link was spread out on the bench, asleep. Quirrel chuckled and decided to let him rest, then sat down on a rock and began to polish his nail.

Not long after, the little bug entered. It looked around, then walked over to where Quirrel was sitting. “Greetings, I see we all three stray from the path. Such a wonderful land, this Hallownest, this building suggests some form of worship, although its object is probably long forgotten. Did you see that bug out on the pier? It seemed very enamoured with the Lake. I was about to say my greetings to it, but I thought it was better to tend to my nail first in case our meeting did not go so well,” Quirrel said to him. The bug simply looked up at him without talking, but Quirrel knew it understood him, so he didn’t continue, leaving it to its own business. It went next to where Link was sleeping and stared at him for a moment, Quirrel picked this up, “Ah, you’d like to rest? Don’t worry, I can get Link out of the way. It’s about time we’re leaving, anyway,” he said, then got up from his rock, replaced the nail on his waist, and moved to where Link was sleeping. He gave him a light shake and said “Link, wake up!” He stirred a little, but stayed fast asleep. Quirrel did the closest thing a bug could to frowning, then bent down and shoved him.

“Waah!” exclaimed Link, falling off the side of the bench, “Ow…” He looked up and saw Quirrel looking over the bench at him, “Quirrel, what the hell?” he said, then saw the little bug, “oh, hey! I didn’t know you were here. I’ve wanted to meet you for a while, did you know Hornet called you a ghost? Do you know what she meant by that, because I-”

“Link,” Quirrel interrupted.

Link looked back up at him, “Yeah?”

“I think you’re scaring our guest.”

“No I’m not, look at him,” said Link, and indeed, the little bug, in its typical fashion, was listening to the conversation in silence, “he hasn’t shown any emotion this whole time, for Din's sake! Hey, I bet you know how to use that nail. Did you meet Hornet? Is she good? I don't know, cause when we fought it lasted like 15 seconds." The little bug gave no response, "got a name?" Link asked, when he still got no response he said "not much of a talker, huh? I get it, but do you have a name?" No response. "Okay, I'll just call you The Knight, how does that sound, Quirrel?"

"Umm, yes, I suppose that sounds good, but our friend The Knight, here would like some rest," said Quirrel, indicating towards the bench.

"Oh! Yeah, alright, I'll leave him be," Link said. He lifted himself off the ground and brushed some dust off his tunic, then led the way out of the building, saying "hey Quirrel, when did you get here anyway?"

Quirrel followed him out, replying "I would guess about a half hour or more ago."

"Huh. Somehow, I knew you'd find your way to a place like this eventually. Looks like I was right."

"Yes, I do so enjoy exploring the far reaches of the world, you were right to wait here," said Quirrel, and the two left the cavern. They left through the same way they'd entered, jumping several pools of acid and making a short climb, after which Link found a fake wall that looked real from the other side, but when leaving, one could see wooden planks supporting it. He blew it to pieces with a bomb and they walked through, shortening their return trip by a lot. They left the tunnel and came into another cavern filled with floating platforms. Having both been through it, they decided on which direction to go without much trouble. Jumping down a hole, they landed on a stone ledge overlooking a long drop full of more ledges, most of the others a bit more overgrown. To their left was the same sign that had pointed them towards the stag station in the crossroads, pointing behind them.

Link turned around and saw a stone doorway with the station inside. "What do you say we go back to Dirtmouth and see Cornifer's shop?" he asked.

"That sounds like a fine idea, Link," Quirrel responded, so they went inside. The station was the same as before, aside from being covered in greenery, Link rang the bell, and again they heard the thundering footsteps of the last stag making his way through the stagways. He arrived at the station and stopped.

“It is you two! Did you end up finding the bug you were looking for? If not he passed through here and opened this station,” said the stag.

“Yeah, we found him,” Link responded, “we’d like you to take us back to Dirtmouth.”

“Well, then hop on, and I’ll get you right there,” the stag replied. Link climbed onto the stag’s front saddle, and Quirrel jumped on the back saddle, and they left. The stag swept them through the tunnels at a swift pace, and in mere moments they arrived in Dirtmouth’s stag station. It looked the same as the other two, except that there was no bench, and instead of a doorway leading out, there was a small metal platform lying on the ground. I was inlaid with wheels and connected to the ceiling with cables that led up to a floor above it. It was fenced in, with a sliding gate on either side that were currently open. When Link and Quirrel stepped onto it, the gates closed and the cables pulled them up into a round room with a single door. On the wall to the right of the door was a bookshelf of some sort and opposite the door was a lever that had been pulled presumably to open the door. The two walked outside into the town square and saw that there were now two open buildings, excluding the one they’d just exited. They decided that they’d buy any supplies they needed, then meet back at the station in an hour, then they split up.


	7. Out of Greenpath

Link and Quirrel set out from Dirtmouth an hour later. Since the last time they’d been there, two more shops had opened, Cornifer’s map shop, run by his wife Iselda in his absence, and Sly’s general store, and the two had equipped themselves with various items, including quills for their maps and a map of Greenpath (the green overgrown road they’d just traversed some of) for Link. They rode the stagway back to the Greenpath station and made their way down a long drop. Link wanted to see what he’d missed before, so they walked down a long road and into a tall cavern. The cavern wasn’t much different from a normal one of its kind, the bottom covered in acid, full of ledges, caves, and nooks and crannies, but when they climbed to the top of the room’s biggest cliff, they found scattered about were giant stones the size of Quirrel, pointed and curved, like the shape of a fang. Their density increased around a certain tunnel, where they lined the walls, floor,and ceiling.

“Hey, that looks cool,” said Link, looking at the tunnel, “I wonder what’s in there.”

“Hmm… I saw that tunnel on my way through here. I figure it’s some creature’s territory, better not to go there in my opinion,” Quirrel responded.

“Pffft. Screw that!” said Link, pulling out his hookshot and shooting it at the top of the tunnel, “be right back, though!” he said before running into the tunnel.

“He’ll get himself killed one day, that one,” Quirrel said, then thought about the story Link had told him about his adventures before coming to Hallownest, “...or maybe not.”

Link walked out of the tunnel and came into a big cavern with a relatively low ceiling, it was full of more of the spiked stones, and the greenery built around to a small cave on the other side of the room. The cave's entrance faced towards Link, and was lined with smaller versions of the spiked rocks. Six white eyes could be seen in the otherwise utterly black space inside the cave. Link started to walk towards it, but suddenly whatever creature was in the cave let out an absolutely thunderous roar, so powerful it stopped Link in his tracks, Link continued. "Impressive," he said when he got to the cave.

"What's this? Another creature approaches The Hunter's lair without fear?" came a deep voice from inside the cave, "is it a fool? No. Another hunter? It has an aura of courage about it, perhaps. Only one other creature has approached me without fear, as a reward I gave it my journal, but I do not have another. Ah, what to do?"

"Uh…what?" Link asked, quite confused.

"I am The Hunter," said the voice from the cave, "I keep a journal of all the prey I catch, which only a fellow hunter can decipher. A small creature came through here without fear, and I gave it the journal to decipher and complete, but I have no such thing left for you."

"Uh, I think it's probably fine. I've been alright without something like that for a long time," Link replied.

"Oh, well no doubt! However, I still wish to pass on my knowledge to new hunters. Here, take this journal. It is blank, but if you face the other hunter in combat, it will copy all that is written there. The writing will still be mostly indecipherable when you gain it, but by hunting your prey you will come to understand it. The other hunter is a short bug with a white head and a gray cloak," said The Hunter. Just a moment later, a large blue rock, flat on the top and round on the bottom, flew out of the cave and hit the ground nearby.

"Yeah, I've met him," said Link, bending over to grab the rock. He was about to say "this isn't a journal," but then thought he'd just ask Quirrel when he got back. He did a small bow, then walked out of the room. He came back out of the tunnel and saw Quirrel waiting below him. "I'm back!" he called.

Quirrel turned and looked up at him, "a good thing it is, too!" he said, "I was beginning to think you'd died."

"Me? Never! Not here, at least," said Link, jumping down to Quirre's level. "Where to now?"

"Above us is nothing more than where we entered. I say we go back down and see if we can find a way to further descend now that I have shown you all that I saw," Quirrel replied.

"Sounds good," said Link.

T back down the cliffs and ledges and they went back down the cliffs and ledges of the cavern and into the previous room, where they quickly found a hole leading down. They came into a tiny square room with a single floating cube, and exits to their front and back. They went down the tunnel in front of them, arriving in another room, this one larger than the previous, with a hole on the other side, and a strange plant on the ceiling. The plant consisted of a huge white pod with blue spots surrounded by a ‘mane’ of leaves, with five stems next to each other forming a ‘mouth’ on the pod. When the pair walked into the room, it turned toward them, then the ‘mouth’ contracted and spit out a green ball with orange spots at Link. It flew in an idealistically straight and hit the ground right where Link  _ had _ been standing. The plant was then struck rather forcefully with a boomerang throw from Link, and it fell off the ceiling, dead. "Nice try," said Link.

They jumped down the hole onto a small platform just below, then onto a slightly larger one below that, then down onto the floor of the next chamber, landing on a bit of elevated ground. To their right was a small pit with the weathered remains of a yellow tent hanging above the corpses of two bugs. To their left was a short drop off onto a lower floor that extended a ways before a step leading into a dark tunnel. On the ceiling was another of the plants, it hadn’t noticed them yet, though, so Link threw his boomerang before it could, and they continued into the tunnel. The tunnel was very short, and they arrived on a ledge in a small room with a high ceiling. Directly in front of them was another plant which Link, again, killed with his boomerang. They went down to the floor of the room and through a natural doorway into another room, then down two steps, jumped over a small pond of acid, then came to a ledge that dropped off over a much larger pool of acid covering the chamber’s floor. Across from them was another ledge, much like where they’d seen Hornet earlier. They decided to descend, and jumped down a few small platforms before arriving on two more suspended just above the surface. They could see a huge bug encased in a dark shell floating through the lake from one end to the other. On the opposite shore from them, where the bug kept wandering about, there was a lantern.

Link swung across the gap and Quirrel used his nail to bounce off the creature’s hard shell several times, then landed on the shore, where a small path—likely worn away by footsteps—led ahead. The surrounding area was dotted with giant bubbles bigger than Link’s head. At the end of the path was a hole leading down into a different room, next to one of the blue signs posted around Hallownest, this one had a picture of several round buildings on it, and an arrow pointing down the hole. “Hey, this is the same symbol that was on the sign at the entrance to Greenpath,” said Link, “what did it say again? Something about a city, or…?”

“Hmm… I can’t quite remember exactly, but I suppose that if we descend down that hole we’ll be on the right track,” said Quirrel, indicating towards said hole.

“Yep, probably,” Link responded, and the two jumped down the hole.


	8. The Capitol

After leaving Greenpath, Link and Quirrel came into a deep ravine full of fog, with many floating creatures that looked like jellyfish occupying it. The descent was altogether uneventful, however, and at the bottom was a small lamplit square with doorways on either wall of the ravine. By one doorway was the sign for a stag station, and by the other, a sign with a piece of geo painted on it. “Which way do you think we should go?” asked Quirrel.

“Stag station,” said Link, without hesitation, “that way is either a gambling game or a bank, and I doubt either of those practices outside a city and in a kingdom this ruined will be trustworthy.”

“Good thinking, Link,” Quirrel replied, “Well, come on, then,” he finished, leading the way in. Inside was the biggest station they’d been to yet. They were standing atop a high ledge in a huge room—almost 40 feet from floor to ceiling—with two large platforms suspended above each other in the center of the room, surrounded by smaller platforms, two more ledges below them, another ledge directly across from where they were standing, and another ledge below that which had a metal portcullis blocking it. Behind the portcullis was a strange black stone with a glowing white object floating above it. At the bottom were two doorways on either side of the room.

They explored the station a bit, finding that it was called the Queen’s Station, and meeting a big bug with a long neck who called herself Willoh. They took a little rest, then continued on their way. After leaving the station, they wandered through a long complex of caverns full of fungal growths, floating balloon creatures, and sentient and mobile mushrooms until they came into a long chamber with a strangely flat ground. When they passed the middle of the chamber, they felt a rumbling beneath their feet, and a few seconds later a large but short (about as tall as Link) bug with a sack that had two eyeholes cut out over its head and carrying a huge club taller than it was burst out of the ground.

“Ah, the practiced footsteps of warriors. You got the looks of adventurers, so we’ve got a lot in common. I’m Cloth, nice to meet you,” she said.

“Greetings, I am Quirrel, and this is Link,” said Quirrel, indicating towards his partner.

“Sup,” said Link, waving.

“A long-necked critter warned me of a dangerous tribe below. Warrior-types, so she says and I’m looking for a good fight,” said Cloth.

“Good to know, thanks,” Link replied.

“Stay safe my adventurous friends, so that we may meet again,” Cloth said

“And you too,” replied Link and Quirrel, before turning around and continuing on their way. As they left the room, Cloth burrowed back into the ground. They came into another room where they crossed a pool of acid, then descended through a tall cavern full of platforms. At the bottom was a large sign with the same symbol of the city on it, and a carving of the seal of Hallownest—an oval with two curved lines through it and wings—on the top, as well as the corpse of a rather humanoid bug. Behind the sign was a large tunnel. Hornet was standing next to the sign.

“So, do you just stand places and wait for that little knight to arrive so you can leave without talking to him?” Link asked.

“......Yes.” Hornet replied.

“Cool.”

“Proceed through this tunnel and you will arrive at the capital,” said Hornet, “The Mantis Tribe below are quite hostile to outsiders. If you see fit to go there, be on your guard.”

“Nah, I’m good,” said Link, “what about you, Quirrel?”

“No, I prefer to avoid confrontation if at all possible,” Quirrel responded.

“Very well then, you may pass,” said Hornet.

The two walked into the tunnel, which had a series of Hallownest seals made with iron bars on its right side, and came out in front of two tall steps, at the top of which they could see the ceiling of a large cavern. They climbed up and came onto a stone ledge with a metal balcony (with no fence) hanging above a lake of acid extending a long distance in front of them. On the stone was another sign, this one like the one in Greenpath, and above them was a large floating mass of rock that had giant green vines with red thorns covering parts of it. Link looked at the lake of acid for a moment, “Real helpful, hornet,” he called back.

Laughter echoed back.

“Man, I bet there’s even a convenient lever on the other side of this that’ll raise a bridge, too,” he said to Quirrel, “Oh, well.”

They stopped to read the sign. It read as follows:

‘Here ends the Pilgrim’s Way.

Hallownest’s Heart lays open in front of you.

Proceed onward to share in its glory.’

“So this is indeed the entrance to the city,” said Quirrel, nodding.

“Yep, but how are we gonna get across?” Link wondered.

“Well, as you said, there’s most likely a bridge that can be extended,” Quirrel responded, “If one of us can get across, then they can pull the lever. Those floating rocks there look very crossable with the use of your hookshot,” he finished, motioning towards the series of giant floating stones above them.

“Good idea,” said Link. He grappled up the rock in front of them, quickly killed a mushroom creature that was on top, then climbed on top of a little ledge and swung to the next one. The next two rocks were full of the thorny vines from earlier, but he made it through and found there was a stop at the halfway point across the lake. It was another stone ledge with a balcony on either side and a lever in the middle. He pulled it, and a metal bridge extended between him and Quirrel, and Quirrrel crossed to where he was standing. “Halfway there,” Link said.

“Good luck,” Quirrel responded, and Link grappled up to the next rock.

Link crossed two more rocks and a few smaller platforms, then arrived at the other side. He landed on another metal balcony in front of a tall doorway. Just beyond the doorway was another lever, which Link pulled. A bridge once again extended between him and Quirrel, and Quirrel crossed. Inside the doorway was a small room with a single tall window. On the opposite side from them was a huge door with two chains crossing it, next to the door was a statue of a huge suit of armor holding a seal of Hallownest with a slot in the middle. “That looks like the False Knight’s armor,” said Link, “I bet whoever used to own it had something that could open the door.”

“Hmm…” said Quirrel.

“Don’t worry, I got it,” said Link. He reached into his pouch and pulled out his Goron Mask, then put it on. Suddenly, there was a ten foot tall goron standing there. He grabbed the bottom edge of the door, then started to lift. His muscles strained for a few seconds, then he slowly pulled it up above his head. “Go under!” he gasped to Quirrel, who, not needing to be told twice, quickly ran under the door. Link moved to the other side of it, then let go and moved his hands away. It slammed hard into the floor with a bang, and Link let out a gasp of breath. “Jeez that’s heavy,” he said, before taking the mask off and reverting to his normal form.

On the other side of the door was another small room and a tunnel continuing forward. They walked through the tunnel, then through some more room that definitely weren’t natural, fought off a few husks before coming to a room with a huge window in the side, and they went to look.

The first thing they noticed was that it was raining. Underground. Then they saw that far below them laid a huge, sprawling city. There were towers, houses, and roads as far as they could see.

“Incredible.” said Quirrel.

Link couldn’t agree more.


	9. Link Makes an Appointment

The Knight stepped off the elevator and into a mostly empty room. The only things around were a hole in the floor leading to the next room, a huge window, and an iron bench next to said window. Quirrel was reclining on the bench, watching the rain. He turned his head as he heard the Knight’s footsteps, then turned it back and waited for its approach. The Knight walked around the bench and looked up at him, which Quirrel took as an invitation to speak. “The capital lies before us my friend. What a sombre place it seems and one that holds the answers to many a mystery. I too have felt the pull of this place, though now I sit before it I find myself hesitant to descend. Is it fear I wonder, or something else that holds me back?" he said into the Knight's empty visage, "You may be wondering where my partner went. If so, I suggest you look out the window there,” he finished. He motioned towards the window, and the Knight walked over it window and looked. Far below it there was a large square with a fountain in the center. Link was near the fountain practicing his swipes with his sword.

"He said he was waiting for you, though he wouldn't tell me why," Quirrel continued, "If I were you, I'd go down there and see what he wants."

The Knight jumped down the hole into a short tunnel, then down another hole into a small room with a desk in it. Just past the desk, the wall opened into another room below, it jumped down. The walls were lined with windows, with one huge window in the front, and there was another desk next to the big window. Behind The Knight were an elevator and an old sentry’s corpse. It stepped into the elevator and pulled the lever above it that would take it down. The elevator descended through the building a moment, then came out into the open air of the city, reaching the ground a short while later. It walked across the remains of some old stone bridges and through the bottom floor of a building before arriving at the square. It looked like a large stone platform (not floating, though) in the shape of a circle, surrounded by a small channel of water, and it was clear now that the fountain in the center was decorated with statues of four figures, one of them taller than the rest.

When Link noticed The Knight, he put his sword away and waved it over, it jumped the water channel, then approached him. “Hello Knight,” he said, “If I may ask, did you happen to meet a creature that called himself ‘The Hunter’ in Greenpath?”

No response.

“Oh well, I know it was you. He gave you a journal, right? He gave me one too, but, unfortunately, it’s blank, and to fill it, we have to fight. Now, since I’ve got no personal conflicts with you, I won’t kill you as long as you don’t kill me, deal?” asked the boy. Getting no reply again, he finished, “Well, c’mon!” before taking his sword and shield back out and slashing at The Knight with a “Hyaa!”

The Knight jumped over the attack and soared over Link’s head, swinging its nail downwards as it did. Link brought his shield up in time to block it, however, and The Knight landed on the other side of him, swinging its nail again. Link blocked it with his shield and lunged for a thrust, but The Knight dodged out to his left and returned with its own slash, grazing Link’s arm and drawing up some blood. He grimaced and let out a quick spin which, among other things, had the benefit of being a magical attack while not draining his magic. The Knight tried to jump over the attack again, but didn’t react quick enough and got blasted with blue energy. Link approached with a vertical slash, but before it could hit, The Knight turned and dashed a few feet in a mere moment, then did it again. Now a respectable distance from Link, The Knight turned back around, its cloak flared up for a moment and a huge white blob of energy with what looked like eyes went flying out of it. Link was surprised by this just long enough for it to slip through his defenses and hit him square in the chest, passing through him with searing heat that burned his skin. He recovered his wits and saw The Knight advancing toward him again, then quickly got his bow out, nocked an arrow, and pulled back, “Dodge this,” he said before firing. The arrow whistled over to The Knight, fast as lightning, and embedded itself in its right shoulder. The Knight retracted when it hit, but its advance was otherwise unimpeded by the arrow in its shoulder, so Link went back to his sword with a horizontal slice. The Knight blocked the attack with its own blade, then tried for a counter, attacking Link’s right side. Link blocked it with his shield, then thrust with his sword again. The Knight sidestepped once again, this time to Link’s right side. His shield was on that side, however, so instead of attacking, The Knight opted to jump over his head, slicing down with its nail. This time it connected, though, hitting the top of Link’s head, knocking his hat off, and bouncing The Knight to his other side.

“Gyow!” Link yelled, bringing his hands to his head When The Knight continued to approach, he kicked it, as hard as he could, and sent it face-first into the ground. “Don’t mess with my hat,” he said, with more malice in his voice than he’d said anything in a long time. Then bent down to grab said hat and put it back on his head.

The Knight stood back up and looked at Link, now leaking a strange black smoke.

“Fight’s over,” Link said to it, fishing the Hunter’s journal out of his pack, “The journal’s full, see?” he said as he showed the slate full of strange text to The Knight.

Suddenly, Hornet swung down into the square from above, sliding on the wet stone before coming to a stop before the two, her weapon—a needle—following her into her hands, where she caught it behind her back. “Again we meet little ghost,” she said, standing up to her full height and looking at The Knight, “I’m normally quite perceptive. You I underestimated, though I’ve since guessed the truth. You’ve seen beyond this kingdom’s bounds. Your resilience is born of two voids. It’s no surprise then you’ve managed to reach the heart of this world. In so doing, you shall know the sacrifice that keeps it standing. If, knowing that truth, you’d still attempt a role in Hallownest’s perpetuation-”

“For Nayru’s sake, Hornet, just say what you mean!” Link burst out, looking quite annoyed.

Hornet squinted at him, “This is none of your business, Link,” she said.

“My  _ goddesses _ it’s none of my business! I was sent here for a reason. What that reason is and who sent me, I don’t know, but I  _ do _ know that as a hero, it’s definitely my business.” said Link, crossing his arms.

Hornet squinted at him again, then turned back to the knight and continued; “If, knowing that truth, you’d still attempt a role at Hallownest’s perpetuation, seek the Grave in Ash and the mark it would grant one like you,” she finished, then turned to Link, “If you truly wish to learn about the fate of this kingdom, Link, be there before this ghost are and I shall be waiting for you,” she said, then turned around, jumped straight up into the air, threw her needle into a nearby building, and swung off.

Link turned to look at the knight, “that nail of yours is nothing special. I met a smith back where we came from. If I were you, I’d have him look at it for you,” he said. Garnering no response, he gave a small salute, then walked off down one of the city’s streets.


	10. The Soul Sanctum

Link returned to the bench where Quirrel was still sitting, watching the rain, and told him of what had happened.

“Ah, so there is somewhere you must go,” said Quirrel after he was finished, “I will not accompany you there, Link. I have another path to walk, and this appears to be an appointment in which I would not be very welcome.”

“Makes sense,” said Link, “I’ll see you again, though. Right?”

“I would like to hope so.”

The two sat there on the bench for a short while, then Quirrel spoke; “I believe I have figured out how it rains here, underground. It pours from cracks in the ceiling. It must be a lot of water up there, sitting still. I’d love to see it one day.”

“Hmm,” Link replied, “I’ve gotta go now.” He got up. “See you around,” he said, before leaving.

He descended back down into the city and wandered about for a time, but he found no exit. Feeling a bit discouraged, he wandered back towards where he and Quirrel had entered, thinking he’d have to leave that way, too. When he got back to the elevator that led up to where Quirrel was, he saw The Knight leaving a tunnel in the cavern wall near the elevator, the nail on its back no longer cracked. Link waved it over.

“Got your nail fixed, eh?” he asked once it arrived, “Looks good. Do you have any Idea where to go? because I can’t find a way out of this city for the life of me.”

The Knight looked at him for a moment, then walked past him and stepped onto the elevator. Link got on with it, thinking it was as good a direction as any to go. It hit the lever above it with its nail, knocking it towards an up arrow next to it, and the elevator began to ascend. Halfway up, however, it jumped off, using the same sort of speed burst that it had during their fight, and landing on a circular metal platform supported by poles in the ground below.

Link quickly followed, jumping off the rising elevator and firing his hookshot into the building above him, where the elevator lead, and swinging to where The Knight had landed. Scattered around the open air of the city were more of these metal platforms—as well as the standard floating stone ones—that seemed to lead in a (very rough) line to a balcony on one of the biggest buildings in the city. It went almost to the top of the cavern and had multiple spires. In fact, the way it was built reminded Link ever so slightly of the Temple of Time.

They jumped across these platforms, having to fight off several husk bugs—some with wings— and onto the balcony. It was huge, almost twenty feet by thirty feet, with a large door in the wall of the building. Link and The Knight walked inside and came into a long hallway with a high ceiling. A huge bug husk (about the size of a goron) with a giant nail was patrolling up and down, and noticed the two intruders. It lowered the point of its nail forward and started charging down the hall at them.

When it got to them, The Knight jumped up above it, hitting it with its nail as it did, and Link simply sidestepped, muttered “basic” and countered with a horizontal slash that cut the bug’s shell right open. Understandably, it died, and Link and The Knight walked down the hall. They passed by a hole into the room below and arrived at another elevator. They took it up to a room containing a desk, multiple stacks of slates as tall as Link, and two husks that they had to kill.

They continued to ascend through more similar rooms, met Cornifer and bought maps, then came to an intricately carved door with a face on the top. The Knight went straight in without hesitation, so Link followed.

Inside was a large room with a drop to a depression in front of them, as well as four floating platforms that looked to have been intentionally made that way, and a hole in the ceiling above one of them. The Knight walked off the drop and jumped up onto the platforms, leaving Link behind. When it got to the one below the hole, however, a metal gate slammed shut over it, as well as in the door they'd entered through, and a big floating bug with a cloak on appeared in the middle of the room. A pulsing, throbbing blob of energy circled around it.

Link pulled his bow out but otherwise didn't do anything, waiting to see if it was hostile. The Knight stayed on the platform looking at it, as it was too far away to hit with its nail. The bug floated about for a few seconds, then blasted a second blob of energy out of its body at The Knight. It managed to dodge the shot by jumping off the platform, but it just turned around and flew at where The Knight landed. It dodged the blast again, and it dissipated a few feet from The Knight's head. While this was happening, Link fired an arrow, but the bug disappeared before it could hit, reappearing a little to Link's left.

"Wizards," he murmured, readying another shot. Before he could release his arrow, however, the bug fired another blob of energy, this time aimed at him. He quickly dropped his bow and pulled his mirror shield on, just in time to block the projectile and send it right back. The bug's eyes widened before it was struck squarely with its own attack. It tried to float away, but was hit with an arrow and The Knight's nail in quick succession, killing it. “That guy was weird,” said Link, “There’s something off here, I can tell.”

The Knight jumped back up the platforms to the one by the hole in the ceiling, then jumped through, while Link used his hookshot to get up. They came into a small hallway extending forward and backwards, went forward a little, then up to another floor where they rode an elevator up. They continued through a series of rooms, fighting more of the large floating bugs, as well as some creatures that looked like blobs of flesh with eyes and mouths. They would emerge from the floor without warning and throw themselves at Link or The Knight. The hunter’s notes said they used to be bugs, deformed by misuse of soul. Link didn’t know what soul was, but he knew he’d get no answers from The Knight.

Eventually, they came to another elevator, which they rode up to a short corridor that led into a large room. It was furnished with a desk, bookshelves, a chair that had the corpse of an old bug in it, and another empty chair a little bit away. They began to walk across, but when they got halfway across, metal gates slid down across the doorways, just like earlier, and a big bug wearing dark blue armor and holding a long and skinny nail appeared above them. This one didn’t float, however, and as it fell, it slashed down at Link and The Knight. Link rolled out of the way just in time, and The Knight dashed away. The bug landed and turned to face towards The Knight, then launched off one of the same projectiles that the other bugs had used. The Knight jumped over it, then dodged as it came back around. As this was happening, the bug attacked Link with its nail, swinging diagonally across and colliding with Link’s shield. He countered with a thrust with his sword, connecting squarely, then jumped back out of reach of its nail, while The Knight approached from behind and gave the bug a slash. The bug then vanished, and reappeared to Link's left a few yards. It fired another projectile, this time at Link, who braced himself with his mirror shield and knocked it right back. Before it could hit, though, the bug teleported again, emerging right behind Link and The Knight. It swung across with its nail, hitting Link on the top of his back and The Knight...somewhere.

Link let out a yell as blood splattered across the room, then fell flat onto the ground, unable to move. The Knight, on the contrary, showed no reaction after being hit, and simply hit the bug back with its nail. The bug went for another slice, but the Knight jumped over the attack, and the bug, swinging downward with its nail, hitting the bug, and bouncing up a little. It repeated this two more times before the bug teleported again, appearing a few yards in front of The Knight. It blasted off another projectile from its hand, but The Knight jumped over it, then dashed to the bug and hit it with its nail. The bug responded with its own attack, but The Knight sidestepped and hit it again.

This seemed to finally be too much for the bug, as it let out a long scream, orange smoke poured out of the wounds all over its body, then exploded out in all directions, leaving a lifeless corpse lying on the ground.

The Knight walked over to where Link was lying—groaning for obvious reasons—and looked down at him.

“Hnnngh… I’ll be fine, don’t worry.” he said, then let out a gasp. “You can go on ahead, ‘ll catch up with you-Gah! I’ll catch up,” he finished.

The Knight turned around and left the room.

* * *

The Knight traversed about 10 more rooms by itself. Furnished with huge bookshelves, as well as giant glass jars, and it was constantly attacked by soul twisters (the flying bugs with the cloaks) and mistakes (the blobs of flesh with only eyes and mouths), until it came into a small room with five windows and a single hole in the floor. It jumped over the hole and looked out the window directly across from the entrance. Just outside was a tiled roof covered in spikes that ended in a downward curve. Beyond that was a flat area of the building’s roof consisting of a huge circular piece of glass. Surrounding it were more spiked rooftops, as well as a wall of the building.

The Knight turned around to jump down the hole, but right at that moment Link entered, looking much less injured than before. “Told you I’d catch up,” he said, waving, “lead the way,” he finished.

The Knight jumped down the hole, and Link followed. They dropped a short way into a hallway that led to the rooftop clearing. On either side were a series of windows, and next to them were three giant glass jars filled with little balls of white swirling about. The Knight broke them with its nail without hesitation, garnering a chuckle from Link, then walked down the hall and onto the roof.

When they got to the center of the glass, they heard a loud roaring in the distance. Floating above the roof a long ways away was a huge silhouette of a cloaked bug. It gathered a bunch of the white balls from the jar around it, then teleported right above them. It looked like the soul twisters from inside the building, but much bigger, wearing a dark blue cloak and helmet. It opened its mouth, it’s cloak began to lift as if blown by the wind, the white particles gathered at its forehead, then it sent a projectile of goop at The Knight. The Knight sidestepped it, then started running towards where the bug—which, somehow, Link knew was called the Soul Master—was floating. It jumped in the air, then slashed upward with its nail, but the Soul Master teleported again just in time to avoid being hit. It reappeared midair to Link’s right, and fired another projectile at The Knight, but was shot by one of Link’s arrows a moment after. It teleported to ground level at the edge of the glass and began floating quickly toward Link. He jumped out of its way and hit it with his sword before it floated out of his reach. It teleported directly above Link, then flew downward at lightning fast speed. Link rolled out of the way just as it hit the ground and disappeared, but the impact sent a shockwave across the entire roof, knocking Link onto his face. The Knight managed to jump over the shockwave, and when the Soul Master reappeared in the air not far from it, it jumped up and hit it with its nail before having to dodge another projectile. The Soul Master, then teleported to the edge of the glass in midair with four blobs of energy surrounding it. Link was back up now, though, and the Soul Master had another arrow in it as soon as it appeared. It then floated across the roof with the four blobs of energy orbiting it. The Knight tried to jump in between them to attack it, but got hit by one and knocked to the ground. The Soul Master got to the end of the glass and disappeared, but the four blobs of energy stayed and reversed directions, aiming themselves two each at Link and The Knight. Link deflected them into the ground with his mirror shield, and The Knight jumped over them, then the Soul Master emerged in the air behind them and sent two more projectiles at them, which were dealt with the same way, then teleported above them and slammed into the ground again. Link and The Knight both got out of the way of the slam, but while The Knight jumped over the ensuing shockwave, Link couldn’t jump that high. Thinking fast, he pulled the Goron’s Mask out of his pouch and put it on while running from the shockwave. Once he had transformed, he curled up into a ball and used his rock-covered back as a shield, so that when the shockwave hit him, it only knocked him over, doing no further damage. He pulled the mask back off, then dodged out of the way of another projectile the Soul Master had fired, then responded with a shot from his bow. The Soul Master teleported to his left and fired at The Knight, who was in front of him. The Knight jumped over it, then jumped into the air again and slashed the Soul Master, who blasted out white energy in all directions. Then it seemed to deflate, going from a round, oval shape, to a slim, rubber-like form. It teleported to behind them, then above them, then continued to teleport every which way until it ended up directly above the center of the glass, where it exploded in a cloud of orange gas and white particles. The gas dissipated quickly, but the white particles spread out across the rooftop, then slowly gathered back in the center and formed into a pulsing white emblem that looked a bit like a flame, but with two black eyes near the bottom.

The Knight walked over and jumped into it. The emblem broke apart back into white balls, while The Knight hovered in place with its head down. Its turned its head back up and its cloak began billowing upward, revealing its black body. The white balls flew into it, but when they were almost all collected, the Soul Master’s deflated form appeared behind The Knight, screamed, then teleported above it, fully reinflated, and slammed down into the (fairly thick) glass roof, shattering it. Link and The Knight fell down into a huge rectangular room that had a single gated-off exit high up on the nearest wall. Most of the room was covered in the piled up corpses of thousands of bugs, so a very small section of it was accessible.

Nothing happened for a few seconds, then the Soul Master appeared above them and slammed into the ground. Link and The Knight dodged it, but instead of a shockwave, white energy exploded out in a small radius around where the Soul Master vanished. It reappeared above them again, and again slammed into the ground. It repeated the ground-slamming attack four more times, then teleported to the middle of the room and began firing projectiles (not just from its forehead, but from various places in the room) at Link and The Knight. However, as they were both quite experienced at dodging them by now, it was soon hit by a rain of arrows from Link and a barrage of nail attacks from The Knight, killing it rather quickly. This time, the Soul Master didn’t teleport around, deflate, or explode, it just fell out of the air. The white particles of energy drifted up out of its mouth and formed the emblem once gain. The Knight jumped into it again, and the same process as before happened, only this time, The Knight absorbed all the white particles and fell back to the ground.

“Well, now that that’s over,” said Link, “how do we get out of here?”


	11. The Miner Bug and the Crystal Mountain

Getting back out of the soul sanctum wasn’t very hard. Using The Knight’s new spell, which let it dive forcefully downwards, allowed them to break through the surprising number of glass floors and ceilings in the building. They made their way back to the bench where they’d met Cornifer (he was gone by now) and rested for a while. While they were sitting there, Link eventually drifted off to sleep, and when he woke up, The Knight was gone.

“...Right.” he said to himself. He got down from the bench, then used his hookshot to get himself up onto a small ledge on the wall of the room and then walked through a doorway. He came into a long tunnel with a high ceiling and windows lining each wall. He looked out one of the windows and realised he was actually on a bridge, high above the city. He made his way down the tunnel at the end of which was a doorway with mushrooms growing all around it. He walked through into a long and narrow corridor then out into an enormous room full of mushrooms and circular platforms suspended with ropes. After a while, he made it onto a ledge at the top of the cavern and hookshotted himself up to the room above. He grappled up to a nearby ledge where there was a doorway and a stag station sign. He went into the station—which looked just like all the rest—and rang the bell. The Last Stag arrived in no time.

“Ah, greetings, Link,” he said, “Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”

“Yeah, could you take me to the crossroads?” Link replied.

“Certainly. Climb aboard.”

Link got off the stag at the crossroads station and thanked him, then wandered aimlessly through the caverns until he wound up in front of an old wooden gate twice as tall as he was. There was a lamp, an old minecart, and more wooden posts nearby. Link had been here earlier with Quirrel, but they'd passed by it on their search for The Knight, but now that he was standing in front of it, he thought that there might be something important there, so he walked into the tunnel.

At the end of the tunnel was another old minecart, as well as a growth of pink crystals on the ground, and a hole in the ceiling. Link got up to the ledge with his hookshot, then walked down another short tunnel, passing by a giant pink crystal, and came to a gap in the tunnel’s floor. There were two small floating platforms and more crystals below. He jumped down the platforms and landed in a small room with a tunnel coming out of a nearby wall. At the end of the tunnel there was a wall made of a strange, yellow-glowing crystal and a round bug standing next to it. He walked down the tunnel.

The bug was holding a pickaxe, wore a helmet with a lamp on the front, and was swaying back and forth as if in some sort of trance. It had the same orange glow in its eyes as the infected husks found all around Hallownest and it was mumbling the lyrics to some kind of song:

“...Bury my body… c-cover my shell,

What meaning in darkness? Yet here I remain…

I’ll wait here forever...till light blooms again…”

The voice was female, sounding drowsy, and she gave Link no acknowledgement, simply continued to sway and hum her song. “Hey, are you oka-” Link started to ask but was cut off by her continued singing.

“...Bury… body… cover… shell,

Darkness. No meaning… DANGEROUS… Still, remain…

LIGHT…. Again…” she sang, then continued humming softly.

Link listened to the song for a little while, then, once he thought he had the melody down, he pulled the Ocarina of Time out of his pouch, brought it to his lips and replicated its slow sadness. After playing it fully, he thought it didn’t quite sound right, so he listened to the bug hum it again, then retried. It still sounded off, so he listened to the humming some more. Then he realized, the song was too slow.

He played it again, this time with a faster tempo, and the song completely transformed, going from being sad and drawn out into an upbeat, jaunty tune. When he finished, it echoed all around the surrounding caverns, and the ocarina sparkled a pale pink. Link held it in front of himself to watch (the sparkle effect never got old), then the sparkles settled.

He put his ocarina up, then looked to the swaying bug with a somber face. “It’s a beautiful song. I wish I could help you, but I can’t. I’ll be back if I ever find anything,” he said. Then he turned around and walked back out of the tunnel, leaving the bug behind.

* * *

He made his way through two more nondescript caverns, then into another seemingly normal room, round and with a single lantern hanging from a beam of wood, but when Link walked into the center of the room, the floor shook, and it shook again every time he moved. “Hmm…” he said, thinking, “I bet I can blow this floor up,” he finished, grabbing a bomb. He placed it on the ground, then ran to the edge of the room. The bomb went off with a  _ bang _ , but the floor didn’t break. “Okay, maybe I need a bigger blast. I think I still have a powder keg, let’s see here…” he said, fishing through his pouch, "Yeah, there it is." He then put on his goron mask and grabbed the explosive barrel, then lit the fuse and threw it into the middle of the room. It went off with a bigger  _ bang _ , breaking the floor up into many pieces and sending them hurtling downward into the gaping hole that had opened in the room. Link pulled the goron mask off and looked down.

The hole was deep, but Link could see a light at the bottom, so he jumped in, jabbed his sword into the wall behind him, and drifted down the hole. At the bottom was a huge cavern full of giant pink crystals the size of houses. He landed on a flat floating platform next to the wall, which had two shelves—a tall one and a short one—and a table, all filled with journals. He jumped off the platform and onto the cavern’s stone floor. Under the platform were more shelves and a normal-sized hole in the floor. He jumped down the hole and made his way through a series of crystal filled caverns and tunnels. There were conveyor belts carrying shards of the crystals from place to place, huge bugs with crystal growth on their shells, and miner bugs who’d attack Link on sight throughout the caverns.

He met Cornifer, who told him that the area was a mountain known as the crystal peak, and continued on his way. He passed a crystal-covered bug sitting on a bench, climbed up a few caverns, and walked into a man-made stone room with walls lined with huge windows. There was a small table in the center, and Quirrel was standing in front of one of the windows, looking out. Link approached his side and looked out the window with him. They were on a cliffside overlooking the valley where dirtmouth lay.

“So we meet again, Link,” said Quirrel.


	12. The Three Dreamers

"It is good to see you," said Quirrel.

"You too," Link responded.

"Quite a view, no?"

"It's alright. You should see the view from the top of Death mountain, it's gorgeous."

"I believe you, but I doubt I’ll ever get to go there, so this will have to do,” said Quirrel.

“Hmm.”

The conversation paused for a bit.

“I can’t stay for long,” said Link.

“That’s alright,” Quirrel replied. “Was it sad to see those miners still at their work below? They must have a strong purpose.”

“Yeah, they must.”

“Those crystals contain a sort of energy. Less powerful but less dangerous than the city dwellers’ soul,” said Quirrel.

“Really? Maybe I should grab some for later,” said Link.

“Perhaps you should. Strange that I know such things, though. I wonder where such knowledge comes from?” Quirrel wondered.

“Weird,” said Link, “...I’ve gotta go now,” he finished, turning around.

“See you around,” said Quirrel.

“See ya.”

Link walked out of the room through a tunnel behind him, through a few more caverns, up a ledge, and into another rather large cavern which was divided in half horizontally by a huge mass of rock. Link walked under it, jumped over a pit full of spiky crystals, and climbed up a fairly high step, then stood up. He saw a miner bug with pink crystal growths on its back and arms patrolling up and down. The bug noticed him at the same time, then leaned back and pointed one of its crystalised arms at him. A beam of bright pink energy shot out at Link almost instantly.

“Gah!” he yelled, just barely managing to roll out of the way. The beam collided with the rock wall behind him and exploded, knocking a few chunks of earth away.

“I’m definitely gonna get myself some of that,” he said, pulling the mirror shield off his back. The bug fired another beam, which was reflected right back into its face, shattering all the crystals on its body and knocking it, dead, to the ground.

Link stood up, keeping his shield out, and kept walking. He came to a crystal-filled pit that was too big to cross even with his hookshot, so he went back—grabbing a few large crystals from a barrel and stuffing them in his pouch (which never seemed to be full, no matter how many things he put in it) along the way—and ascended to the higher part of the cavern with his hookshot. He walked on, killing a few more crystal covered husks and jumping across a long series of platforms before landing on a ledge just below the ceiling and continuing on.

He wandered through a series of dark twisting tunnels and caverns before climbing out of a hole and onto the surface. He came out on a flat stone clearing with huge, egg like stones surrounding him. To his right was a huge wall of rock, and to his left was a cliff drop. Next to the cliff was a huge, crumbling statue of some strange creature. He walked over to the cliff and looked out over the gray valley beneath him. He could just barely make out the light from dirtmouth in the center.

"So this is the top of the mountain, huh?" he said to himself, "Kinda dismal." He turned around to look at the statue. It was some sort of furry creature with no head. Instead, it had a face in the center of its body in an area with no fur. Two odd-looking wings protruded from both sides of its body, and three crown like spikes rose above its face. Where its tail would have been was the base of the sculpture. “I wonder what this is. Maybe some sort of god?” Link asked.

Oddly enough, one area around the base of the statue was unusually pale, seeming to almost glow in comparison to the darkness surrounding it. Carefully, Link reached out and touched it. Nothing happened, so he took a closer look. It was actually one of the stones of the cobblestone in the base, and it was a little loose. “Eh, don’t want to knock the statue over,” he said, deciding to leave it as it was, “I’d better get going,” he finished.

He went down into the mountain and wound back through the tunnels and caverns until he arrived at a ledge in front of a huge pit that he couldn’t see the bottom of. Another ledge on the other side hosted a torch and a skull on a stake, just like those surrounding the Snail Shaman’s mound. Link took out his hookshot and looked up at the chamber’s high ceiling, gauging the distance. Eventually he decided he could reach it, and fired. The hook extended, collided with the ceiling, and latched on. Link tested the strength of the tether, then swung off the ledge.

Halfway across, however, the hook unlatched and retracted, sending Link plummeting down the hole with a yell. As he fell, he quickly lost consciousness.

* * *

When he came to, he was lying on his back in some sort of graveyard. Surrounding him were gravestones of all shapes and sizes. Most had a sculpture of the seal of Hallownest or of some bug on top of them. One especially large stone in the center had what appeared to be antennae on its top.

Slowly, Link stood up. His whole body ached and he could barely feel his legs, but he got up anyway. The gravestone with the antennae had a little bit of writing on it, so he walked over for a closer look.

_ Cursed are those who turn against the King. _ it said.

“Oh, well that doesn’t scare me at all,” said Link, sarcastically, “What is this place anyways?” The area he was standing on was some sort of raised (not floating) stone platform. Around it on the floor of the cavern was the rest of the graveyard. To his left were more graves, an old metal gate, a few steps, and a doorway at the end of the room, while to his right was a small tunnel leaving the cavern. He thought for a moment, then sat down on the right edge of the platform and pushed himself off. He landed on the cold stone floor with a  _ thud _ , and a jolt of pain shot up his legs, but it soon passed, and he continued through the tunnel.

He emerged in another cavern, whose walls and floor were formed of many small stone masks. More gravestones were spread across the floor, and in the center of the cavern sat three tall stone pillars on a raised step. Link went in for a closer look and found that each one had a white mask painted on it. The first had two large eyeholes, with two smaller holes above those, the second had one hole in the center, and the third had six eyeholes. There was a boulder between them which had some writing in the center. Link climbed up the step so he could read it, but as soon as he passed the first pillar, a globe of white light manifested around he and the boulder in an instant.

“Ah! What the Din?” he shouted. He reached out his hand to touch the globe, and sure enough, it was solid. He was trapped. “Of course,” he sighed, “Of course I’m gonna get trapped in a snow globe today, why wouldn’t I?” he yelled. He sat down against the globe and leaned his head back for a little while. Eventually he walked over to the (quite elaborately carved) stone and started to read the text. On the top were drawing of the three masks, then the following:

** _TO PROTECT THE VESSEL, THE DREAMERS LAY SLEEPING._ **

_ Monomon the Teacher _

_ In her Archive, surrounded by fog and mist. _

_ Lurien the Watcher _

_ In his Spire, looking over the city. _

_ Herrah the Beast _

_ In her Den, amidst the deep darkness beyond the kingdom. _

** _THROUGH THEIR DEVOTION, HALLOWNEST LASTS ETERNAL._ **

As soon as Link finished reading the words, his map lit up, and the globe exploded into small circles of light with patterns inside that stayed and hovered about the room. (For convenience, we will call these circles of light essence). The entire Chamber began violently shaking, knocking Link to his knees. From nowhere in particular, three voices spoke in sync, “Go no further, intruder.”

“You hold a power that was never meant to re-enter this world,” said one of the voices, obviously male.

“A call from beyond time and space? From the Vessel? The Light? Or something more?” asked a second voice, this one female.

“Would the Seals break? They cannot be undone,” said the first voice.

“Perhaps it is fate that has brought him here. Perhaps that power is the only way,” the second voice replied.

“Regardless, Our seals remain. It is our duty,” the first voice spoke, “He must be removed.”

“Our duty holds. It shall be done,” said the three voices in sync again.

Three transparent, hovering figures appeared, one after the other, above Link, each wearing one of the masks on the pillars. The first wore the mask with one hole in the center, with a blue cloak hanging down from it, obscuring its body. The second wore the mask with two eyeholes, and was was a little more than twice the height of the first one. It also had a blue cloak which hung open under its mask, revealing a skinny, rope-like body which expanded like a wine glass right under the cloak, where four long tentacles like those of a jellyfish hung down. The third wore the mask with six eyeholes, and was about the size of the second. Its blue cloak covered two round horns and about half of its slug-like body. It had six limbs which hung down from the sides of its body.

All three figures then leaned back their heads, their cloaks started billowing, and a flood of essence flew towards Link, obstructing his vision until all he could see was white. His body went numb, and he thought he fell over, then he felt a strange sensation. It felt indescribably like his body was being pulled away from itself, and soon he was entirely detached from the world, his vision still white.

“Fade away, forgotten hero. Fade away, and let us sleep in peace,” said the three voices.


	13. Escape From Exile

Link awoke on a stone platform floating in the middle of a moderately lit void with a blurry and faint color scheme of orange and navy. He stood up and looked around at the infinite nothingness surrounding him, then sat down, sighing. “Guess I’m stuck here,” he figured.

For an indeterminate amount of time he waited on the platform, entertaining himself by absentmindedly playing melodies on his ocarina, making up stories, and firing a few arrows into the void to see how far they’d go. After said indeterminate amount of time, which Link didn’t bother to try to keep track of, there was a sudden flash of light on the platform, and The Knight appeared, laying on its side. Link stopped his ocarina playing and looked at The Knight. He was now sitting with his legs dangling off the edge of the platform.

The Knight pulled itself to its feet and looked around, then walked over to where Link was sitting and looked at him. “You got stuck here too, huh? Well, make yourself comfortable,” said Link. Just after he finished speaking, however, a ring sounded from behind them. They turned around and saw, floating just off the platform, a giant floating bug made entirely out of light. It looked like the statue at the top of the mountain, but it had antennae instead of spines, wings like those of a butterfly, a large tail, and no visible face area. It hovered just off the platform for a few moments, then flew back and up, leaving a trail of small floating platforms in its wake. It stopped some distance away, where a larger platform with a roof formed itself around the bug, obscuring it from vision.

The Knight watched this with its usual indifference, then, without hesitation, started jumping up the platforms.

“Wait! Are you sure it’s…” Link started to say, but then he gave up the sentence and followed The Knight. He had a significantly harder time getting up the platforms than The Knight did, but it waited for him at the larger platform’s edge, so he had no trouble keeping up. The floating bug waited at the end of the platform for them, then flew off to another platform and waited. This time, the smaller platforms formed before them when they made it to the preceding one, and disappeared behind them when they jumped off the one after it. They crossed these platforms and landed on the next large one, then the bug flew away again. They did this twice more, then the bug stopped on a huge platform which had a giant statue.

The statue had large antennae that looked almost like a rabbit’s ears, a lining of fur around its head that looked a bit like a scarf, and large wings that hung down like a cloak. Link and The Knight approached the floating light creature, and it spoke. “What a terrible fate they’ve visited upon you,” it said, in a smooth female voice, “To cast you away into this space between body and soul. Will you both accept their judgement and fade slowly away? Or will you take up your weapons and cut your way out of this sad, forgotten dream?”

“err...what?” said Link, quite confused.

The spirit continued as if Link had never spoken. “Hero,” she said.

“Yes?” Link responded.

“Present the eye that sees the truth,” said the spirit.

“Yeah, okay,” said Link. He pulled the eye of truth (a magic lens that let the user see through illusions) out of his pouch and held it out in front of him.

The bug leaned back and focused, then circles of essence poured from its body and into the lens. It absorbed them, then in a flash of light, the purple wooden frame of the glass transformed into shining steel and Link vanished.

The spirit disappeared next, leaving another lens floating in front of the statue. The Knight picked it up and vanished in yet another flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! So, I just posted 13 chapters of this at once, and that's because I've been writing this story on Fanfiction.com for a while. From now on chapter releases will be slower.


	14. The Kingdom's Sewers

** _The Kingdom’s Sewers_ **

When The Knight woke, it was laying down next to a large tent made out of red cloth in a small cave. There were many lamps hanging from the ceiling, and the inside of the tent was full of large light blue pillows. In the tent there was a bug that looked like the statue in the other world, but with red eyes and a dark blue cloak. The Knight stood up and the bug addressed it.

“Ahhhh, you’ve returned. Welcome to the waking world,” she said in a high, shaky voice, “Those figures, those Dreamers… they reached out with what little power they still have and dragged you into that hidden place. But that talisman you now wield, the Dream Nail… it can cut through the veil that separates the waking world from our dreams. Even the Dreamers themselves can not hide from such a weapon. Though I must admit, that sacred blade has dulled over time. Perhaps together we can restore your nail’s power. You only have to bring me essence.

“Essence… the precious fragments of light that dreams are made of. Collect it wherever you find it, and bring it to me. Once we have enough, we can work wonders together.” She paused for a moment, then continued, “That hero’s nail had been dulled as well, but to a worse extent. I don’t know how a Dream Nail ended up in Termina, but its magic was so faded that it didn’t even function. Someone found the nail’s latent power and molded it to see the truth, but I have sharpened it again. The nail already contained enough essence to restore it to its full strength. Apparently this ‘Termina’ where he came from was full of fragmented dreams, and he had collected lots of essence without even so much as noticing. We can resharpen yours in the same way. Now go out into the world, wielder. Hunt down the essence that lingers there! Return when you have collected 100 Essence, and I will teach you more...” she finished. The Knight turned around and walked out of the cave.

* * *

Said hero, having decided he had nothing better to do, had returned to the city and wandered about for a bit. He was currently standing in front of a giant iron manhole with the kingdom’s seal on it. There was a sort of stone pedestal with a keyhole beside it. Link pulled out the key he had found elsewhere in the city and held it up to the pedestal. It looked like it would fit, so he put it in and turned. The key fit, and the manhole slid open. A rancid and damp smell wafted out.

“Ew,” said Link, pinching his nose. He looked down the hole, but it was too dark to see anything, so he got out his bottled lumafly and waved it above the hole. It only shined light on the sides of the apparently very deep pit. He clipped the makeshift lantern to his belt, then grabbed his hookshot and fired it into the side of the pit, then jumped in and planted his feet below it, and slowly walked down the side of the pit. He got to the end, hanging down from the ceiling of a small room. He released the hookshot and dropped down.

One wall of the room was missing, and instead had a stone fence overlooking a huge underground channel of water, rushing by with a low roar. Pipes on all sides of the channel brought more water pouring in. The smell was even more pungent, and the air was hot and humid, forcing water into Link’s lungs each time he breathed. “Sewers,” he said, distastefully.

He turned and walked down a tunnel to his left and came to a ledge in a larger room on the wall of the channel. Two gray, slug-like creatures with red legs and white masks with spines on the tops on were crawling about. On the room’s left wall, at the opposite side, was the entrance to another tunnel. Link jumped off the ledge, walked around the two creatures, and entered the tunnel, which soon dropped off into a pit. He lowered himself down with his hookshot and dropped into another large tunnel where more of the red-legged creatures were walking up and down. On the wall next to Link was a crude white painting of a bench with an arrow pointing to the left, so he decided to go that way.

He walked down the tunnel and down a few jumps, then came into the beginning of another tunnel where, on the wall, was another crude painting of a bench, this time with an arrow pointing straight into the ground. Link knelt down and saw that there were many cracks where the arrow was pointing, forming a circle on the ground. He lit the fuse of a bomb and placed it in the center of the cracked floor, then backed away. The bomb exploded, opening a deep circular pit. Link walked down the hole with his hookshot, at the bottom of which was a bench, slightly slanted since one side of it was sitting on a pile of garbage. A larger pile of garbage sat behind it. In fact, it was about twice Link’s height, large enough to have several other iron benches in it.

Link sat down on the bench. He found he had to take a lot of rests lately, for he was always tired and sore. The cut on his back still hurt, even though he’d used his last red potion to heal it, and almost everything in Hallownest seemed to be hostile.

He sat and thought about all that Seer had told him. Admittedly, it wasn’t much, but it was better than before. Apparently, his ‘Dream Nail’ could not only peer into people’s minds, but let him see ghosts and places where an entrance to the dream world lay. The strange patterned circles that appeared in the resting grounds were signs that dreams are prevalent somewhere. The False Knight’s mask gave off a steady stream of small essences from itself for instance. He pulled out the mask and looked at it. “I wonder why I haven’t been wearing this,” he said to himself, “Eh, might as well start now,” he finished before putting it on his face. He stood up and let the armor cover him, then walked down a tunnel to his left.

The tunnel stopped after a while, coming to a drop on the side of a pit. Directly across and above were two ledges, and the bottom of the hole was visible below. Link decided to go up. He grappled up to the ledge and walked down another tunnel for a moment before a giant gray worm-like creature with two black legs and round, pink lips came into view. It noticed Link almost immediately and started running down the tunnel towards him. Link got out his word and shield, and the worm hurled itself at him. Link dodged it, and the worm fell to the ground. Link then grabbed his sword with both hands and stabbed it downward into the worm’s body, splitting it in half.

“Hmm,” said Link, standing up and opening his armor’s face plate, “I’ll have to work on that move, but it has potential.”

What he didn’t see was that the worm’s top half had stood itself up on the four of its tiny arms that were part of that half of its body. It flung itself toward Link, colliding with his armor and falling to the ground. It got back up to try again, but Link kicked it away, which seemed to kill it. The bottom half of the worm then stood up, teeth extending from its insides, and jumped up towards Link's face. Link quickly grabbed his sword and split it down the middle, leaving it twitching on the tunnel floor.

"I really should have been wearing this armor before," he said. “Its heavy, but it sure does work.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Just want to let you know that new chapters could be pretty sporadic from now on. If you have questions about the story, you can ask me on Fanfiction.net in my PMs or the story reviews. I'll answer on both sites, though, so don't worry about missing out. Story goes by the same name there as here.


	15. The Dung Defender

Link walked off, away from the worm and through the twisting tunnels of the waterways. In one particular tunnel, Link passed a doorway into an adjoining corridor out of which was wafting an especially horrible smell. He looked down the tunnel, but couldn’t see anything.

“Gods, that stinks,” he said, plugging his nose. “...Probably something important down there, though,” he distastefully finished after looking down the tunnel for a time. He took off his armor in order to avoid worsening the smell, then continued on down the tunnel. He went a short distance, dodged a belfly which attempted to explode in his face, jumped up a few large steps, then discovered the source of the smell.

On the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel, packed dense, was dung. The whole tunnel was covered in huge balls of dung. Link almost puked. “Ugh,” he said, pinching his nose harder, though some of the smell still got through, “Why would anyone want to smear a tunnel with poop? I get that these are sewers, but come on, this is disgusting.” He almost puked again.

Suddenly, he heard a voice coming from down the tunnel. It was distorted by how far away it was, but could still be heard. “Ooh, akleberah. Hah!” it seemed to say in a very proud male voice.

“Is anyone there?” Link called out, but he got no response. He realized that his own voice was likely quite small by comparison to whoever was down the tunnels. Reluctantly, he took a step down the tunnel, onto the dung. It squashed like mud under his boot, and he tried not to puke again. “Well, no turning back now, I guess,” he said to himself before taking another step. This time he did puke.

Abou a minute later, he climbed up out of a hole and onto a surprisingly clean floor in a small, squarish room. There were still a few small balls of dung here and there, but it was relatively clean. A cube-shaped platform floated in the middle of the room, with another hole right above it. Again, Link heard the voice, coming from above this time. “Eekos, dahl! Hahahahahaha!” it seemed to say.

“Who could that be?” Link asked himself, “They have a very loud voice.” He shot his hookshot into the platform and kept climbing.

After going through two of the same room, and emerging in a third that had its exit on the side, he heard the voice again. “Eeko, eeko, dala!” it said. Link continued on out the room’s exit and through a small tunnel, then lowered himself down a long drop with his hookshot. Halfway down, he heard it again. “Mera, mera. Ako! Hah!”

He got to the bottom of the drop, and entered another tunnel which, just ahead of him, was once again covered in dung. He walked down it for a short while, then came to a ledge overlooking a large rectangular room which was covered in the biggest balls of dung yet. Link could practically see the smell wafting off of them.

He jumped down into the center of the room where the ground was more flat, then a gate closed on the tunnel behind him. A bulge appeared in the dung on the floor and started moving back and forth, flicking pieces of it everywhere. Link drew his sword and shield in preparation of whatever might come next, then a huge red bug the size of a goron jumped straight up about 15 feet into the air, then landed back on the ground and started pounding its chest with its arms and shouting. It had a large spherical body, a navy blue face, two serrated-looking navy blue horns , and long navy blue claws with ridged ends that were where the forearm should have been. Link realized that this was the bug whose voice he had been hearing earlier.

The bug finished his shouting, then, turning his attention on Link, he used his shovel-like arms, formed a ball the size of Link from the dung in about one second, then threw it high into the air, straight at him. Link jumped out of the ball’s line of descent, then grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow. To his surprise, however, the dung ball didn’t splat onto the ground, but instead bounced right back into the air. It hit the wall behind him, bounced off that, too, and flew right back towards Link. In addition, the bug had already made a second ball and flung it at him. Link, begrudgingly, dived out of the way of the two dung balls, then once again nocked an arrow on his bow, but only had time to see the bug dive back into the ground.

The bug started moving around under the dung again, but Link had an idea. He quickly donned his goron mask, and after transforming, jumped up into the air, curled into a ball and pounded the ground right next to where the telltale bulge was, knocking the bug unto the ground and turning him onto his back, where he lay, struggling to get up. Link, not wasting time, delivered a powerful goron punch to the bug straight away. This gave him the momentum he needed to stand back up, however, and he curled into his own ball and started bouncing around the room. Link waited until he flew back his direction, then punched him, sending him flying back across the room and into the wall. The bug hit the wall and uncurled, sprawling out and then falling to the ground.

He quickly got back up, then pounded on his chest and let out another shout before diving back underground. This time he moved faster than Link could catch him, moving right up under him and bursting out of the ground, knocking Link over and flinging four balls of dung in various directions. Instead of landing on the ground on his way down, though, the bug dove straight back under the dung, moved around for a moment, then burst out again. This time he did it a little farther away from Link, sending one of the dung balls straight at him. Link, having stood up by now, punched the ball, breaking it apart.

The bug did this ten more times, finally landing on the ground after the final jump, which Link managed barely to avoid. He gave the bug a nasty punch, then the bug responded with a slash with his claw. They stood exchanging blows for a few more seconds, then the bug curled into a ball, rolled back a short distance, then started throwing dung balls again. Link dodged one, punched through the second, and actually managed to catch the third. Quickly, he threw it straight back at the bug, who was so shocked that he made no move to avoid it. It hit the bug right in the face, knocking him onto his back , where he once again struggled to recover. Link ran over to him, leaped into the air, and pounded straight into the bug’s exposed chest, then bounced back onto the ground. The bug a long yell, then exploded in a puff of orange smoke, flew into the air, and landed on a huge ball of dung on the outside of the room. As he flew he dropped something, which landed in the middle of the room, seeming to sparkle. Link removed the goron mask, then watched as the bug burrowed into the dung in the background. He walked over to the object that the bug dropped and picked it up. It was a charm, red with blue claws on the top. He dropped it again, seeing as he couldn’t use charms, and checked the Hunter’s Journal to see what it had about the strange bug he’d just fought.

“ **Dung Defender** ,” it said. “ _ Skilled combatant living at the heart of the Waterways. Assails intruders with balls of compacted dung. _ ”  _ Below, where the hunter’s thoughts were written, it said “Fighting for ‘honor,’ or for ‘loyalty’... you may as well be fighting for dust. If you want to kill, do it for your own sake. That is the true nature of a Hunter. _ ’

“I swear,” said Link, “this place is weirder than Termina.” He put the journal away, then left the room through a doorway where a gate had just opened. In the room beyond, a giant, empty pipe with glass on the side ran up and down. In its center was a giant bronze wheel with an iron handle that jutted downward from the middle. A rectangular stone platform floated just below the lever. Link grappled up with his hookshot, then walked to the lever and pushed it. It turned easily, and once it started, it went all the way around until it stuck straight out to the right. The bronze wheel turned for a few seconds, then stopped, and bubbly green acid filled the pipe. “What’s that for?” Link wondered.

He jumped down from the platform, then heard the Dung Defender’s voice from the other room. He turned around and saw that the Dung Defender was sitting in the dung with his head, shoulders, and arms exposed, looking at him. He walked over to him.

“Ah, greetings,” said the Dung Defender, “I must apologize. I thought you were one of those mindless husks. You bested me, however. That transformation you underwent was incredible. Such marvelous strength! I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Er, thanks,” Link responded, “Who are you, anyways?”

“Me? Nobody now. But I was once a knight, you see. By the grace of the king, I stood before the throne and watched the kingdom grow. Then that nasty business with the affliction…”

“The what?” asked Link.

“Ah, right. I suppose you wouldn’t know of such things,” said the Dung Defender. “No sense in bringing it up now, though. Anyways, my name is Ogrim, and who might you be? You’re a most unusual bug if I’ve ever seen one.”

“My name is Link,” said Link, “I’m actually not a bug.”

“Hmmm,” said Ogrim, “Yes, that would explain it, wouldn’t it… Tell me, Link, where are you from?”

“I’m from a kingdom called Hyrule,” said Link, “It’s very far away from here, though. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to make it back there.”

“Ah, I’m most sorry. I know personally how much one’s homeland means,” said Ogrim.

Link thought for a few moments, staring off into the distance. “Yeah, well I’m starting to accept it,” he said. “It’s not really that great of a place, anyway.”

“Is that what you really think?” asked Ogrim.


	16. Isma's Grove

Ogrim jumped up out of the dung and stood up. “Come with me, Link. I’d like to show you something,” he said.

“Uh, okay,” said Link.

Ogrim led him out of the room the way he’d come in, then down through a series of sewer tunnels until they arrived at a ledge overlooking a large pool of acid. The ledge, inexplicably, had a small amount of crystal growth on it. “Link, can you jump across this lake?” he asked.

“Er, no,” said Link.

“Hmm,” said Ogrim, bringing his arm to his face and tapping his chin, “I’ll have to throw you.”

“What!?,” said Link, taking a step back. “Look, I might normally be okay with somebody throwing me, but if you miss, I’ll fall straight into that acid.”

“You have seen me throw. I won’t miss,” said Ogrim.

“That’s reassuring,” muttered Link. “Look, I’ll just swing across with my hookshot,” he said, fishing through his bag.

“Very well, then,” said Ogrim. Link found the hookshot, then pointed it at the ceiling. It was very high, and as much as Link wanted to believe it, he knew the hookshot wouldn’t reach. He slowly lowered his arm.

“Fine, throw me,” he said, returning the hookshot to his bag. “Just letting you know, if I die, I want 15,000 geo as compensation.”

Ogrim laughed. “Well, I suppose that those are agreeable conditions,” he said. He picked Link up in his shovel-like arm, hooking on his tunic, then pulled back. Link curled into a ball and pulled his pointed green hat over his eyes, and Ogrim threw.

Link flew across the room for what felt like an eternity, then hit the ground on the other side of the cavern right on his back. He uncurled and rolled a few times before coming to a stop. He lay there for a moment, then noticed that Ogrim was flying through the air towards him, shouting all the way, and he quickly scrambled out of the way. Ogrim curled into a ball halfway, and when he hit the ground he bounced up, popped out, and landed on his feet.

They were standing on a fairly small ledge on the other side of the lake. On the wall behind them was a very short tunnel (shorter than even Link). Ogrim bent down and looked in the tunnel. “Hmm… “ he said, “Link, when we fought earlier, how did you undergo that transformation?”

“I used a mask,” said Link.

“And when you transform, does that offer some sort of protection?”

“Why? What’s in that tunnel?” said Link, moving over to it and looking with Ogrim.

“There are a great many very sharp spikes,” Ogrim explained, “They line the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel. I usually curl up and roll through, so I wondered if you could do the same.”

“Yeah, I could do that,” Link replied. “Gorons have rocks on their backs, so I’d be fine.”

“No,” said Ogrim “On second thought, you would have trouble crossing the gap that comes later on. Hmmm…”

“I could use the Deku Mask,” Link suggested, “In that form I’m lighter and made of wood. The spikes wouldn’t affect me, and you could throw me across the gap.”

“Good thinking!” said Ogrim, standing up, “Now, follow me.” He rolled up into a ball, then rolled down the tunnel.

Link got the mask out, and soon enough he was in the form of a short, wooden child with a cup for a mouth. He walked down the tunnel, and sure enough, not far down, the floor and ceiling turned to metal spikes. Link noticed that the tunnel actually changed to wood. When he got to the end of it, there was a deep chasm below. It was filled with wooden structures that were covered in spikes, and the stone was all depressingly colorless. On the opposite end was another wooden tunnel jutting out from the wall, and standing on a floating stone platform just below him was Ogrim.

“Come down here. I will toss you back up to the other tunnel,” he said.

“Got it,” said Link in his squeaky deku voice. He jumped down onto the platform, then Ogrim picked him up and lightly tossed him into the other tunnel. He got up and walked down the tunnel, and soon Ogrim followed in his armored red ball.

At the end of the tunnel was another ledge overlooking a small pool of acid. On the other side was yet another ledge next to a low tunnel. The ceiling in the cavern was very low. Link took off his Deku Mask.

“You don’t need to throw me this time,” he said when Ogrim emerged from the tunnel, “my hookshot will reach.”

“Good,” Ogrim replied.

Link got out the hookshot, fired it into the ceiling, then swung across the pond. Ogrim followed with one of his mighty jumps, and they continued. They crossed a few more pools this way, seeing more and more vine growth as they went, until they came to a ledge below a hole in the ceiling where huge leaves were growing on the wall, leading up the hole. Ogrim led Link up into a small tunnel where a large, round, red sign was posted on the wall. Link stopped to read it.

“ _ Only those who prove their honor in combat may enter the grove beyond. _

_ _ _ -The Defender _ ,” it read.

“Ogrim, did you make this sign?” he asked.

“Hm? Oh, yes,” replied Ogrim, “And you’ve definitely proved your valor, so come along. It’s just down here.”

Ogrim led him through more tunnels that became more and more overgrown until coming to a large hole in the ground. Far below was an overgrown, circular stone platform in the middle of a huge lake of acid.

“This is it,” said Ogrim. All of a sudden, he picked Link up.

“Hey, wait, what are you—!” Link started to say, but was interrupted by Ogrim jumping straight down the hole. For a long moment, they fell, then Ogrim landed on the platform with a thud. He set Link back down.

The cavern was absolutely massive, and leaves bigger than Link’s head which covered the walls of earlier tunnels had been forsaken for leaves bigger than Ogrim’s body. There was so much acid on the bottom of the cavern that the far wall was completely obscured by a green fog. Four more floating platforms dotted the lake, ranging from round and medium sized to a very small cube of rock. One of them was partway submerged in the lake. On the closest wall was a large ledge where a mass of vines were hanging out from the wall. On the top they were very thick, but as they reached closer to the ground, they thinned out. Just above the ground, they stopped, and there was a soft green glow.

Ogrim pointed his arm at the ledge. “Over there,” he said softly.

They crossed two of the platforms, then landed on the ledge. It was now visible that the green glow at the bottom of the vine was a small green ball held in place by two vines. On the bottom side of the thick part of the vine growth, some the vines came together and formed into a white mask with six black eyes. The face structure of the mask was very female in nature, and it seemed almost human.

“This is Isma’s Grove, Link,” said Ogrim, “and that is Isma. She was one of the five knights of this kingdom. She passed long ago, but in this grove she can still survive somewhat through the life of the greenery.” He turned around to look at the green ball that was held by the vines. “This is her tear. It is a wondrous blessing that grants complete immunity to acid. She will only grant it to those she judges as worthy.”

Link bent down to look at the tear. “It looks like a fruit,” he said.

“It is indeed a fruit, but a very unusual one at that,” Ogrim replied.

Link reached out and touched the tear. It had a rough surface, like that of an unripe pear, and the two vines grasped it tightly. He gripped it lightly in his hand, but at that moment, the two vines unclasped and he took hold of the tear.

Ogrim let out a small gasp. “So she has chosen you,” he said, before letting out a hearty laugh. “Well, I suppose I’m not really so surprised. Go on, then. Eat it.”

Link nodded. He brought the fruit up to his mouth to eat it, but as soon as his hand applied any pressure at all, the fruit exploded into green dust. He felt a strange tingling sensation run up his arm from his hand and spread through his whole body.

“Well, there it is,” said Ogrim, “you can survive in acid now.”

“Are you really sure?” Link asked, a little doubtful.

“Absolutely. Why don’t you try it out? There’s a tunnel that the lake runs into on the other side of the cavern. You can leave through there,” Ogrim replied.

“Are you coming?”

“No, I think I’ll stay here for a while. You can go on without me,” said Ogrim, turning around to look up at Isma’s face.

“Alright. Goodbye, then,” said Link. He leaned off the ledge and looked apprehensively into the lake. He took his Zora Mask out of his pouch, put it on, and transformed into a tall, amphibious man with blue skin and fins on his arms. “Well, here goes,” he said before jumping off into the lake. When he fell in, just like Ogrim had said, the acid didn’t harm him in the slightest. He swam to the other side of the lake and out of the tunnel.

“Do you truly believe so faithfully in this creature, Isma?” said Ogrim. “If so, I completely trust you. Though he is a bit strange…”


	17. Fight With Hornet

** _Fight With Hornet_ **

Link jumped down out of the colorless chasm in the sewers onto a large, rectangular metal platform in the middle of a huge gray cavern. In the center of the platform there was a hole surrounded by a short fence with an arch standing next to it. The fence had metal points at a few intervals, and the sides facing the far sides of the rectangular had openings in the fence. A little farther off, a podium-like object made of stone sat on the platform. The cavern the platform sat in had enormous, round, flat metal objects that were split down the middle on the walls to either side of the platform. A thick metal beam ran out of the very top of one of them, over Link’s head, and into the top of the other one. Link thought they looked a bit like giant circular doors.

This thought was confirmed a second later when the door closest to him opened and a giant metal box hanging from the beam came out. It moved up next to the platform and stopped by the strange stone object. The box had a door on the side facing the platform, and windows all around its sides. The door slid open, and out walked The Knight.

“Oh,” Link said to himself, “Of course.”

The Knight turned towards him, then walked across the platform, jumping over the hole along the way, and stood beside him, looking up at him.

“I suppose you want me to say something,” said Link, garnering no response. “Well, sorry to disappoint you, but I know about as much about this place as you do, maybe less. I just got here less than two minutes ago.”

Once again, no response.

“You know, that’s really annoying sometimes.”

No response.

“Alright, then, go on your merry way. This place gets me down.”

The Knight finally moved then, looking back down, walking towards the hole, and jumping down. Link was left on his own again.

He approached the metal box The Knight had arrived in. Above the door, the words “Hallownest Tram” was written. The door was still open, so he went inside. It was lined with rows of padded benches. The one in the middle faced towards him, the others to his right. Large horns stuck out of the walls to his right and left, playing a slow tune. Below the horns, two metal desk-like objects with a glowing button on each lay. Link walked over to the one on his right and pressed the button. The door slid shut, the entire tram rumbled and rocked for a moment, then it started to move forward. The cavern door opened as the tram passed through into the carved tunnel beyond, then closed behind it again. For a while the only light was inside the tram as it sped along, then Link saw a dim light at the end of the tunnel as another gargantuan door slid open. The tram rolled out of the tunnel into a dark cavern and stopped by another raised metal platform. The door slid open, and Link walked out.

The cavern was dark, and almost monochrome black. The floor was covered in round boulders, and a tunnel led out at the end of the platform. Link made his way through the adjoining caverns, up a deep and narrow chasm, and through some more tunnels, all while being attacked by bees of all things, before he emerged on the bank of an acid pond at the bottom of a very deep pit. Floating platforms filled the cave all the way to the top, and huge, round bugs floated innocently around. The strange thing about it was that white flakes continually fell from some unknown place, and white powder covered the ground. They ranged in size from the size of a snowflake to larger than Link’s hand.

Link looked at it, confused for a moment. “It can’t be snowing,” he said, “it’s not cold at all.” He reached out to catch one, but it fell apart under his grasp. “How strange.”

Just at that moment, a bug as big as a goron in white armor fell from high in the room and landed on the closest large platform to him. It lay there, completely still.

“Well, that’s not snow,” Link decided. He jumped across a small platform, then onto the one the bug had landed on. He bent down to look at it, rolling it over and removing its helmet. It had a fairly standard bug face, that being a white face, two round black eyes, and no mouth, and it made no movement. “Dead,” said Link, standing back up. He was about to start climbing up the platforms, but something drew him back to the bug’s corpse. He got out his Dream Nail, let the blade of light extend from it, then struck the bug. A faint voice echoed in his head:

“ _ ...Fools... _ ”

“How odd,” said Link. He looked around again and realized that many of the surrounding platforms had similar corpses on them. Some in red armor and some in white, some large and some small, but all were most definitely dead.

He looked up, but he couldn’t see the cavern’s ceiling, so he resolved to keep climbing. Along the way he met Cornifer sitting on a ledge in the wall, and bought a map from him, as well as investigating the other dead bugs, striking them with the Dream Nail. All had similar lingering thoughts:

“ _ ...Can’t...Lose?... _ ”

“ _ ...Champion?... _ ”

Unfortunately, he couldn’t make it to the top. The platforms ended near a ledge where strange white vines were growing in jagged patterns. A tunnel on the ledge led out of the cavern. Through the tunnel was another cavern that was overgrown with similar white vines and, despite the white flakes falling at an extremely slower rate, had dust piled much higher. He was repeatedly attacked by new types of bugs, flying bugs with orange pouches hanging from their faces that fired projectiles that the journal called primal aspids and large mosquito-like bugs called hoppers, but thanks to the False Knight’s armor he made his way through unscathed.

As he passed into the next room, a long, rectangular cavern a bit like a hallway, he could see Hornet on the other side. He walked through, having to dodge some very pointy rocks that fell from the ceiling, but as soon as he got close, she turned around and ran out of the chamber.

“Of course,” he muttered to himself, following her, “Why can’t anything ever be straightforward?”

The next room was a small ravine with ledges going down the sides, then a drop at the bottom. At the bottom of the drop was a doorway into a large and mostly featureless square room with some tall white grass growing here and there. Hornet was standing in the center with her back facing Link.

“Here we go,” he said, walking through the doorway.

Just like she had done in Greenpath, Hornet held out her needle with the point towards Link, implying not-so-subtly that she wanted him to stop. He did, taking off the False Knight’s mask as well out of what might have been respect, but possibly discomfort.

“So you have come here after all,” she said.

“I mean, yeah, but I basically just stumbled across you,” Link replied, “I wasn’t really actively seeking this place out. The directions you gave weren’t exactly helpful.” He wasn’t sure, but he thought he heard Hornet give a little sigh. He grinned.

“It seems you really would seek the truth about this once great kingdom. Its deep secrets aren’t ones the weak could bear,” Hornet continued, with slight agitation in her voice.

“Sure.”

Suddenly, a strong wind started blowing towards Link from the opposite side of the room, almost knocking his hat off, and claw shaped rocks shot up from the ground behind him and blocked the doorway. The doorway on the opposite side was already blocked in the same way. Hornet turned around to face him.

“I know you are no weakling, Link,” she shouted, “but you must prove to me that you are worthy of facing the truth of this kingdom!”

Suddenly, Hornet threw her needle right at Link with astounding speed, and Link just barely managed to roll out of the way. She yanked it back with a flash of her white thread as Link drew his sword and shield. Hornet, keeping the pressure up, launched herself needle first across the room at Link, who braced himself with his shield. A moment later she slammed into him, sending them both sprawling on the ground.

Both fighters recovered quickly. Link started to run towards Hornet, but as soon as he got close, she crouched down and sent thread swirling about her. Link was cut in several places, including just below his eye, but he jumped away before taking any serious injuries. He put the False Knight’s mask back on while she recovered her thread, then charged in again. This time Hornet leapt about 12 feet into the air, then surged down at Link, needle first again. Link raised his shield, angling it so she would bounce off, which she did, landing not far away.

She threw her needle again, but Link sidestepped, and when she started to pull it back he grabbed it by the handle and ran towards here with it in his hands. She tried to pull harder, but he kept his grip, and when he got close, he jumped into the air and kicked her in the chest with both feet, knocking her over, but leaving him on the ground too. Link got up quickly and ran to where Hornet was still on the ground, then jumped up and brought his sword down on her. It didn’t pierce especially far, but Link knew it still did plenty of damage.

Hornet responded by throwing thread around his ankles, binding them together and making him fall over. They didn’t take long for him to cut, but it was enough time for her to grab her nail from where it was still laying. She then threw several objects that Link couldn’t see, but in a blink of his eye three threads were hung up from wall to wall in the room. Each had a ball of spikes suspended on them. Link didn’t know why she did this, since he couldn’t jump very high, but the very act of setting them up so fast and precisely made him a bit uneasy.

Hornet leapt through the air, then stopped right above him and swirled here thread around her while hovering in the air. This time the armor protected him, but the threads yanked his sword out of his hand and flung it across the room. The threads stopped and Hornet fell to the ground. She was about to attack, but Link punched her between the eyes before she could, then ran to grab his sword. Hornet threw her needle in response, forcing Link to throw himself to the ground. Once she pulled it back, he grabbed the sword and turned around to face her.

Hornet ran straight towards him and swung her needle. Link blocked it and responded with a quick jab. They stood still exchanging blows for a few moments until Link slid his blade under one of Hornet’s attacks and gave her left leg a slash. She jumped back across the room, landing just in time to get nailed by an arrow from Link.

“Gah!” she yelled, bending over. Suddenly she looked totally exhausted. The fight was clearly over.

She pulled out the arrow and dropped it on the ground. “You are indeed strong,” she said, breathing heavily, “Your strength must be otherworldly. The ki-”

“It is,” said Link, matter-of-factly.

“What?” Hornet asked.

“Otherworldly. It’s hard to explain, mostly because I don’t understand it either, but I’m from a different...universe? It’s weird,” Link explained.

“Ah... That is strange, but with power like yours, you must have been brought here for a reason. It takes more than most creatures have to navigate all through Hallownest as you have,” said Hornet.

“Hm.”

“Either way, I promised I would tell you about Hallownest if you came here, and so I shall.”

“Really?” Link asked, “Honestly, I half expected you to send me on another cryptic quest.”

“Your sarcasm tires me, Link,” said Hornet.

“Good.”

Hornet sighed. “Follow me.”

The gates blocking the exits to the room opened, and Hornet led Link through the one opposite from where he’d entered, then through a short tunnel and down a drop. At the bottom was a doorway into a large cavern where a gargantuan white worm with points like a crown surrounding its mouth, where the wind was coming from. The inside of the creature looked like a cave, and it was very long. At the end was a faint white light.

“This is the corpse of the wyrm,” said Hornet. “Our kingdom’s history begins here.”


	18. A History Lesson

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone. Just so you know, this chapter is basically just a bunch of exposition dump and witty dialogue, so if you don’t like that sort of thing, you don’t have to read it.

“The Wyrm was an ancient and powerful creature that lived in the wastes on the edge of what is now Hallownest,” said Hornet. “You may want to sit down.”

Both Link and Hornet sat down.

“As powerful as the Wyrm was, it did not live forever. Eventually it came here to die, but was instead reborn as the Pale King. He was the one who founded Hallownest and became its ruler. His presence in the kingdom is what transformed the bugs of Hallownest from mindless beasts into the intelligent creatures that prospered under him.”

“So do people turn back if they leave the kingdom?” Link asked.

“Yes, they do, in fact, though the effects vary. Some bugs simply lose their memories, while others change completely into dumb beasts.”

“Huh.”

“The kingdom was in relative peace for many years, until a horrible infection swept through. It consumed the minds of those it took, controlling them and reducing them to their base instincts. The King searched desperately for a way to stop it, which led to his discovery of the void. Void is a completely black substance which opposes all life and light, but which can be molded and imbued with purpose. The King planned to create a creature completely devoid of thought and will and seal the infection inside of it,” said Hornet.

“Mm-hmm. And how’d he plan on doing that?” Link asked.

“He would have a child with the Queen, then throw its egg into the abyss, the source of the void. The void would then hollow the child out and take its body, effectively transforming it into a ghost. These creatures were called vessels. Any vessel which showed evidence of thought was left in the abyss to die,” Hornet continued, “His methods may have been a bit...brutal, but it was necessary to save the kingdom.”

“Right.”

“Thousands of vessels were created in an attempt to find one that was perfectly hollow, and many of them escaped the abyss and roam the world to this day, but the King eventually deemed one of them empty enough to contain the infection. It was brought to the palace to be raised, and the door to the abyss was locked forever. This vessel was known as the Hollow Knight.”

“Cool name,” said Link. “Is that little knight I’ve been seeing around a vessel, by any chance?”

“Yes,” Hornet responded, “Once the Hollow Knight was ready, the King placed the infection inside it and sealed it in the Black Egg forever.”

“So why is the kingdom still ruined?”

“The Hollow Knight was impure. A flicker of thought was hidden deep inside it, and that allowed the infection to take hold of it and continue to ravage the kingdom. In response, the King decided to use the power of the dream world to place a stronger seal on the Black Egg. To do this, he chose three special bugs who were willing to sleep forever in order to access the dream world’s power: Lurien the Watcher, Monomon the Teacher, and Herrah the Beast. They maintained—and still maintain—more powerful seals on the Black Egg,” said Hornet.

“Hmm... I think the Seer told me about them,” said Link.

“Ah... You have met the Seer,” said Hornet, “She is a strange bug.”

“Yep.”

“Despite their efforts, however, the Dreamers could not keep the infection contained, and it slowly took over the entire kingdom. Other efforts to stop it were made, but none of them worked. On top of that, the King and his palace both disappeared overnight, leaving the kingdom in chaos. And that,” Hornet finished, “is the fate of Hallownest.”

“Okay, then why so much activity now all of a sudden?” asked Link.

“That is a question that I don’t know the answer to,” Hornet replied, “Between the appearance of that especially successful vessel that you call the Knight and the infection’s sudden surge of activity, this odd tale may be finally coming to an end.”

“That’s nice.”

“Yes it is. If you wish to know about anything before the rise of Hallownest, I cannot tell you because I don’t know. The same can be said for any more specific details. I do know someone who I believe may be waiting for you. They live in Deepnest, my homeland, where they make masks. Be warned, though. Deepnest is an extremely dangerous place where you must constantly be on guard. Other than that, you may do as you please. I have no further business with you,” said Hornet, standing up. “Oh yes, and you can enter through the Mantis Tribe’s village,” she finished, before leaving the room.

“Thanks,” Link mumbled.


	19. Random Occurrences Accross Hallownest

Link climbed up over the ledge at the top of the high cavern in Kingdom’s Edge to see the top of huge gray slug-like creature. It had a disproportionately small white face with just eyes and a mouth, and it was resting its arms on the ground. Every few seconds, it closed its skin over its face as if it were blinking.

“Ohrm... Tiny thing,” it said, in a deep, almost wet voice. “You climb high. Seek then knowledge of these lands?”

“Not particularly,” Link replied, “Not anymore, at least.”

“This ancient place is grave of Wyrm. Once told, it came to die. But what is death for that ancient being? More transformation methinks,” said the creature.

“So I’ve been told.”

“This failed kingdom is product of the being spawned from that event,” it finished.

“And who might you be?” Link asked.

“My name is Bardoon,” it said.

“I’m Link,” said Link.

“Hmm…” said Bardoon, “This falling ash is moult. The Wyrm’s corpse decaying. Endless. Rmm... Serene. Sad. With its like gone the world is smaller.”

“Hmm.”

* * *

At the top of Kingdom’s edge was a building that seemed to be made from the corpse of a giant bug. Link went inside, where many dead bugs were hanging from the ceiling with chains in a dark room. A portcullis blocked a doorway on the opposite side of the room where cheering and sounds of battle were emanating from. One bug hanging upside down was still alive, and it addressed Link when he entered.

“Aha! Another warrior finds their way to our fair Colosseum. Ours is the final destination for all seeking trials of intense and deadly combat,” he said, “All one has to do is place their mark upon their Trial Board of choice and lo! The arena’s gate will open. There’s a small fee attached to each trial, but I’m sure as skilled a combatant as yourself will have accrued a wealth of Geo.”

“Uhh-,” Link started to say, but was cut off.

“Now, before you draw your nail and rush eagerly into battle, I’ll offer one quick word of advice,” the chained little bug continued.

“Look, I’m really not interes-”

“There’s a warrior’s pit below here, where others like yourself await their own trials. I’d strongly advise you to rest up before placing your mark,” said the bug.

“Can you hear-”

“Oh and have no doubt, I’m a fearsome warrior myself. Don’t go judging me by my size, or my current... errr... constraint. The Colosseum beckons us both! I’ll be back in battle soon. Make a contribution, and you can enter the Trial of the Warrior,” the bug finished.

“I’ve been trying to tell you that I don’t want into your colosseum,” Link said, glad to finally get something out.

“Oh, but you look like such a fine warrior,” the bug argued.

“I am,” said Link, “But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m not risking my life by my own free will. It’s endangered enough as it is.”

“Well, I suppose that if you’re so confident there’s no point in trying to convince you,” said the bug, “but since I like you, I’ll tell you something I don’t tell most bugs who enter the Colosseum.”

“What’s that?” asked Link.

“Rumor has it, there’s an old nailmaster who lives around these parts, far below here,” the bug said, “They say he’s willing to teach his special technique to anyone who finds him. No one knows if it’s actually true, but you seem to be the exploring type.”

“You could say that,” said Link.

* * *

The bug wasn’t kidding when he said ‘far below.’ At the bottom of the giant pit-cave below the Colosseum was a long tunnel full of dangerous bugs. At the end of it was a dome shaped house with a bench next to it. Link went inside, where the bare and dusty floor was dimly illuminated by a skylight in the ceiling. Red curtains hung down from the walls. In the center, a large bug with a three-horned white head, wearing a gray cloak with a fur lining at the top and a red headband was sitting, totally disregarding Link’s presence.

Link got closer, and the bug finally looked up.

“Hmph. Yet another finds his way to me, all the way at the world’s end. You’re here to learn a nail art from the legendary Nailmaster Oro, I presume?,” said the bug.

“Well, yeah, pretty much,” Link replied.

“It is indeed the Great Nailsage’s law that I must pass down my teachings,” said Oro, “However, no law prevents me from demanding payment. If you truly wish for my tutelage, prove it with geo.”

“Well, now that would depend on what the art _ is _,” said Link, “It’s a bit unethical to charge for something you won’t reveal. Especially down here where I doubt you’d even use the money much.”

“Hmm... Reasonable. It is called the dash slash,” said Oro, “It is used to perform a huge strike with great range and power after quickly moving forward.”

“Okay, do I already have to know the ‘dash’ part to learn it?” Link asked.

“It depends on how quickly you wish to learn it,” said Oro, “If you can already dash, I can teach you in a matter of hours, but if you cannot, it may take months or even years.”

“Oh,” Link says, “Yeah, I don’t think I have that time right now.”

“Hmph,” said Oro, “begone, then.”

* * *

Link found his way through a very well hidden tunnel into a stag station which, as it happened, was in the city. It was a large station, and when Link summoned the Stag, he called it King’s station. Link rode to Dirtmouth to buy a few maps. A new bug he’d never seen before was sitting on the bench, but she paid him no mind, so he didn’t worry about it. He decided to take his time getting to Deepnest, and rode to Greenpath for a walk.

Along the way, he made his way into a huge cavern covered in spikes. Letting his curiosity lead him, he made his way across the cavern’s floating platforms and onto a ledge on the other side. A silver treasure chest sat on the ledge. He hit it open, but only a single geo popped out. He looked inside to discover that it was actually just a covering for a very deep and narrow pit. He eased himself down with his sword in the wall, then came out into a dome-shaped room. He was immediately attacked by two elder baldurs (fully grown baldurs, which are roly-poly like bugs with hard armor. Fully grown, they look like giant armadillos). He dealt with them with minimal trouble, then continued down another tunnel.

A few tunnels and caves later and Link emerged at the base of the black cliffs in the gray desert at the edge of Hallownest. “I’ve been here before,” he said. Despite the truth in that statement, however, he thought he’d explore a bit more extensively.

* * *

He entered a cave in the side of the cliffs, went down a pit, then walked down another tunnel into a very dark room. He got out his bottled lumafly and looked around. In the center was a mangled pile of metal, and in the edges of the room were two metal rods that flayed out at the top. Looking a bit like strange lanterns. He was about to leave, but he noticed a small tunnel on the other side of the room.

In the next room, a giant bug with a red hood and a stitched mask was lying, dead.

“That’s creepy,” said Link.

He was going to leave, but something kept his attention. He decided on a whim to hit the bug with his Dream Nail. As soon as it hit, red essence circles exploded out of it and dispersed.

“Well, I must have done something right,” said Link. “Or wrong.”

He went ahead and left, but in the previous room, inexplicably, the chunk of metal had reformed into a larger version of the two lanterns. At its base was a sort of cage-shaped basket full of red coals. Large red essence circles drifted leisurely around the room.

“Yeah...” Link said, “maybe wrong.”

Despite his better judgement, he lit the coals with a fire arrow, causing the lanterns to erupt violently into scarlet flames. A short and jaunty carnival tune played on what sounded like an accordian.

* * *

At the top of the cliffs was a cave that Link hadn’t noticed his first time through. Inside was a door. Through the door was a room with a bench and another door. Through that door was a hallway. At the end was a large room with a skylight in the ceiling dimly illuminating a large bug. The bug had a three-horned white head and wore a gray cloak and a red headband.

“Hey, you look just like Oro,” said Link.

The bug looked up. “So you have met my brother?” he asked, “Did he teach you his Dash Slash?”

“Uhh... No, but only because I can’t already do the dash, and it would take too long to teach me,” said Link, “at least according to him.”

“Hmph,” said the bug, “I won’t forget what he owes me. Oh, I’m sorry to bother you with such things. My name is Mato.”

“I’m Link.”

“Well, if you’ve been all the way to him and back, you must be quite a fierce warrior. I’ll teach you my own nail art if you’d like,” said Mato, “It is called the cyclone slash.”

“Sounds cool,” said Link, “What’s it like?”

“Simply put, it is performed by quickly spinning your blade around yourself.”

“Oh, you mean like this?” Link asked, performing a quick spin and letting loose a burst of magic.

Mato seemed stunned. “Y-Yes, actually. Almost exactly like that,” he said, “In fact, what was that energy you released?”

“Where I come from, it’s called magic,” said Link, “It obviously exists here, or else I couldn’t use it, but I haven’t seen it used anywhere.”

“Well, your use of the technique is obviously far above mine,” said Mato, “I have nothing to teach you.”

* * *

As Link stood at the top of the cliffs overlooking Dirtmouth, he noticed a faint red glow that wasn’t there the first time.


	20. First Encounter With Grimm

Link arrived in the once totally empty Dirtmouth to find that two red tents, one very large and the other about half the size, had been set up just outside. Their entrances looked like ghostly white faces, and two long-necked bugs with white masks on (the same bugs as Willoh in the Queen’s station) stood next to the larger tent’s entrance. Link decided to go inside.

Inside the tent was totally dark. Link made his way down a long hallway. Halfway down, a fairly humanoid bug with a white mask was playing a song on another bug that was shaped like an accordian.

“Mrmm. You called us?” he said, “Speak to master.”

“Uh, okay,” said Link.

He walked down the rest of the hall, and into a round room where two lanterns of red flame hung from the ceiling. Suddenly, red lights started dancing around the room and the ground began to tremble. Red smoke floated up from the floor. The lights and smoke concentrated themselves on one spot just in front of Link, then a tall bug appeared and they dispersed.

The bug was tall, had a white face with large red eyes, two small black horns on the back of its head, and pencil thin black legs. It wore a navy blue cloak which formed a collar around its head and separated into tails at the bottom. The inside lining of the cloak was red.

“So, it was you who called us,” said the bug, “Well met, my friend. Well met. I am Grimm, master of this troupe. The lantern has been lit, and your summons heeded. A fine stage you choose, this kingdom fallowed by worm and root, perfect earth upon which our ritual shall take place. And you, my friend. Your part is far from over.”

He bowed extremely low. “As the lantern flared your role was cast, our compact written in scarlet fire. Eager we are to see you commence, but first, some illumination is required.

“Yeah, I’m a little confused,” said Link.

Grimm gave Link a small red charm with a white face on it, then stood back up. “Across these lands my kin now spread, harvesting that essence peculiar to my... breed, the flame in dream. Seek my kin; claim their flame and return it to me. Together, marvels shall be achieved.”

“Oh, umm... Sure,” said Link.

“Do not fret small one,” said Grimm, “For this task you won’t travel alone. My child shall guide you to the flame and gather within itself that burning essence. Like you, the child plays a key role in this task. Only with it by your side will the flame, and my kin, reveal themselves to you.”

He disappeared in a puff of red smoke.

“Hey, wait!” Link shouted, “I can’t use charms!”

He looked down at the charm in his hand, then back around at the now empty room.

“That will not be a problem,” Grimm’s voice echoed.

Link was surprised when the charm suddenly caught fire. “Gah!” he yelled, throwing it into the air, where it exploded into red flame, leaving a small flying bug hovering in the air. It was about as tall as Link’s head, and had a head much like its father’s, only with black eyes and only one horn. A tiny gray body hung down from the head, with four rope-like wings coming out of its back. It moved over to Link and started to hover around him.

“Well, I guess I’d better look for these flames, huh?” said Link.


	21. To Gather Scarlet Flame

As it turned out, as soon as the Grimmchild broke out of the charm, the locations of the flames became marked on Link’s map. The closest one, as far as he could tell, was in the Crystal peak. He walked across the small plain outside of Dirtmouth, then rod the elevator up to the Crystal Peak. According to the map, the flame was near the entrance. Soon enough he made it to where the flame was marked. A lantern of red fire was sticking out of the ground. He approached it, but the lantern disappeared.

A moment later, a small gray bug with a white mask on appeared, holding the lantern, floating in front of him. It wound back, then swung, sending three balls of fire spraying across the room in Link’s general direction. They moved very slowly, however, and were easily avoided. The only other attack it made was to dash right towards Link, so he had no difficult time avoiding them, but it was almost impossible to catch because it hovered around very quickly. Link couldn’t get a hit in until he had the idea to shoot it with an ice arrow. This killed it instantly, and it exploded into red smoke and flame which the Grimmchild absorbed.

Link repeated this in Greenpath as well as in the city, then returned to Dirtmouth. He entered the tent, walked down the hallway, and entered the main room.

Grimm once again appeared in red fire. “I can feel it. The warmth of the flame you’ve gathered together,” he said, “A masterful opening act. The air hums with excitement. Dear child, you’ve done so well. Let your fire burn even brighter.” He brought his hand out of his cloak and snapped his fingers. Red fire appeared around the Grimmchild, then it absorbed them, transforming to have two horns like Grimm and have a longer and thinner body.

“Woah,” Link whispered.

“Beautiful, yes. The child has grown, from idle youth to deadly companion. About these dangerous lands, its aid will no doubt be welcome,” said Grimm.

“Yeah,” said Link, “definitely.”

“Just don’t neglect our dance, for it too continues!” said Grimm, “Keep hunting that scattered, scarlet essence. When the child is filled with flame once more, return to the stage and our performance will begin.”

He vanished again.

* * *

This time the map had marks in the King’s Pass, Resting Grounds, and Kingdom’s Edge. As he journeyed to find the fire, the Grimmchild would occasionally spit a small ball of fire at his enemies. The bugs guarding the flames were bigger and tougher, but altogether fairly similar to fight. He returned to Dirtmouth, where he went back inside the tent.

At the end of the hallway, Grimm once again appeared in red smoke. “Wonderful. Wonderful! My kin arrive and the time has come,” he said. He turned towards Link, then lifted his arms, opening his cloak and revealing his red body. The Grimmchild flew into him, and he closed his arms over it and turned back around. He stood there trembling for a moment before speaking. “This searing fire... It carries well the Ritual’s promise.” He stopped trembling, then snapped his fingers, and the dark room suddenly illuminated to reveal a small stadium full of the gray bugs that had guarded the lanterns. “Dance with me, my friend!” he said, “The crowd awaits. Show them you are worthy of a starring role!”

He bowed low, then disappeared. Link tensed, then drew his sword and shield as Grimm reappeared not far behind him. Grimm dashed forward and swiped with his claws as Link barely rolled away. Grimm then jumped into the air and disappeared, sending flames flying out and down in a circle. He reappeared in the air off to Link’s left and dove down toward him. Link sidestepped this attack, but Grimm followed it up by dashing towards him, claws out. Link narrowly avoided this attack too, slashing Grimm with his sword as he passed. Grimm vanished again at the end of the dash, appearing in front of Link. He extended his arm towards Link, opening his cloak, and shot three bats made of fire at Link in quick succession. Each time a bat appeared, a pillar of fire rose from Grimm to the ceiling.

Link braced himself with his mirror shield as the bats homed in, but when they hit, they simply dissolved instead of being reflected. Grimm teleported behind Link, then shot the tails of his cloak into the ground. They reemerged in pairs swirling around each other all over the arena. Link moved to an empty space just before they tightened and shot up, forming sharp spikes. Grimm withdrew them, then vanished. He appeared in front of Link, dashing towards him. Link was prepared this time, though, hopping aside and thrusting his golden sword into Grimm’s side.

Grimm screeched, breaking up into a multitude of bat-like, shadowy creatures. They flew around independently for a few seconds, then gathered above the center of the room. They reformed into Grimm, who turned his cloak inside out and ‘inflated’ like a pufferfish and started spraying out balls of red fire in all directions. Link wove his way through the maze of fire, nocked an ice arrow, and fired it at Grimm, instantly causing him to ‘deflate’ and fall to the ground.

He teleported behind Link, who barely ducked as he swiped with his claws, and countered with a wide slash with his sword. He vanished again, emerging on the other side of the room. He shot three more bats at Link. He hit them with his shield instead of just blocking this time, deforming them into normal flames and sending right back at Grimm, who was (shockingly) immune to the fire. Grimm teleported into the air and dove at Link, who once again dodged and countered. He teleported away again, then dashed at Link, receiving yet another slash as a result, jumped into the air, and spread a circle of flames.

Grimm teleported back to the center of the room and puffed out again, sending balls of fire out again. Link shot him with another ice arrow. Grimm teleported to right in front of Link with fire on his claws and made two swipes. Link blocked the strikes with his shield, then cut Grimm twice and stabbed him through the chest. Grimm let out an ear splitting screech, then exploded into red fire across the room.

He reformed behind Link, who turned around to find him facing away again. Grimm bowed to him, and the audience gave a round of applause. “Bravo, my friend. Hear how the crowd adores you! They’ve not seen such a show in a long time,” said Grimm. He snapped, and in the air next to Link, red fire appeared and formed into the Grimmchild, now with a red body, a defined black tail, and six of its rope-like wings.

“Look here! How our child has grown, nourished and strengthened by the heat of our passionate dance!” Grimm said.

“Yeah... Sure,” Link panted.

“The two of you will feature in many tragedies and triumphs together, I’m sure,” said Grimm, “And so our great ritual nears its end. Will you continue to harvest the flame, even though now you surely see the path it illuminates for us? Our scarlet eyes will watch you keenly... friend.” He vanished, and the room went dark. “Go out into the darkness. Harvest the last lingering embers of this Kingdom. Then return to me and we will complete our dance,” his voice echoed.


	22. The Mantis Lords

The new flame marks on Links map were in the Royal Waterways and the Kingdom’s Edge, as well as two in an area he didn’t have a map for. He guessed that said area was Deepnest, and decide that after getting the other two flames, he’d finally go there.

He dealt with the grimmkin in the waterways fairly easily, but the one in Kingdom’s Edge was marked as being in what seemed to be the bees’ hive. He went inside and collected the flame, then defeated a bee with a nail and met the ghost of the queen. Then he returned to the Fungal Wastes.

He returned to where he had seen Hornet outside the city and descended through a few caverns. Eventually he came out into a room with a small acid pond in front of a short cliff. He got up the cliff with his hookshot, then climbed over to see what he imagined to be a mantis at the top. It was a little bit taller than him, had a large blue abdomen, a blue cloak, two skinny black legs, two white arms that seemed to be sharpened like swords on the end, a long and thin neck, and a tiny white head with two antennae.

It stood still, staring silently at Link. Link took a few steps forward, and it suddenly lunged forward at lightning speed and made an illogically wide swipe with its limb, giving Link a gash on his arm as he raised it to protect his head. The Grimmchild immediately spat a ball of fire in the mantis’s face, distracting it as Link recovered and armed himself. The mantis turned back toward Link with another swipe, but Link blocked it with his shield, countering with a quick and precise cut that severed the bug’s right arm.

The mantis stayed calm, however, responding with a jab at Link’s head. Link jerked his head away within an inch of the attack, while the Grimmchild spat out another ball of fire. The mantis made another desperate swipe, but Link rolled under it and thrust his sword into its body. The mantis let out a cry and fell to the ground.

“Geez, Hornet,” said Link, “ you weren’t kidding when you said they were fierce. I’ve never seen something lose an arm and keep fighting before.” He looked to the Grimmchild. “ You’re a lot of help, you know that?” he said, “I need to think up a good name for you. I can’t just keep calling you Grimmchild.”

Link bandaged up his arm, then continued onward. In the next few caverns, he encountered more mantises, some of which had small legs and could fly. These flying mantises were mantis youths, according to the journal. As they grew, they lost their wings and stingers.

Eventually, he came to a tunnel with a wooden frame that was guarded by a mantis. He went inside, under a floating mass of rock, and came into another cavern. In the center was a huge metal circle, and surrounding it were were cubish wooden structures on the walls, floor, and ceiling. A small path ran from where he was standing to the circle, as well as out in several directions. “It’s a village,” said Link.

Only one of the huts had its door open, so after fighting a few mantis youths, he went inside. He went through a few empty rooms, then came into one which had two tall shelves and one short one. All of the shelves had what seemed to be claws. Link picked one up to investigate it. It was shaped like a question mark, having a curve that ended pointing to the side of the inside edge, and had only a slightly sharpened edge on the inside.

“So what are these for?” Link wondered aloud, “They can’t be weapons.” He thought for a moment, then noticed that one of them was stuck into a wall. He tugged on it, but found that it only came out if he pulled upward. Feeling how it stayed sturdy in the wall as well as how comfortable the handle was, he concluded that the claws were used for climbing. He took two and put them in his bag. “Now I can climb straight up a wall without my hookshot,” he said, “These’ll be helpful.”

Moving through the village, he found that all the huts were connected, and in one on the other side of the village was a giant lever made of bone. He pulled it, and the metal circle in the village’s center split in half and opened, revealing a hole into another cavern.

Through the hole was a deep chamber holding another section of the village. At the bottom, in one of the huts, was a hole that led even deeper, to a chamber that seemed to be just as wide, but much more empty. Link slid down with the claw, finding that the room was completely empty aside from a closed off doorway on the other side, a metal ring that ran around the center of the room, and three wooden pillars outside of the ring. Each pillar was carved into a chair at the top. On top of each pillar sat a creature that resembled a mantis, but with arms instead of claws, and two long blue horns protruding from their heads. A fourth pillar sat broken off to Link’s right.

Link walked inside the metal circle and looked up at the mantises on the thrones. “Is that the entrance to Deepnest?” he asked, pointing at the doorway.

The mantises remained silent.

“I’ll probably have to fight you, won’t I?” said Link.

The mantises gave no response.

“Or... Are you gonna let me through?” he asked.

No response.

“You mantises about as silent as the Knight, you know that?” he said. He put on the False Knight’s mask, then drew his sword and shield.

This finally garnered a response, as the mantis in the middle stood, then jumped straight up to somewhere Link couldn’t see. The metal circle slid back, revealing a pit of spikes, and a cage surrounding the entire circle fell from the ceiling. The only gap was high up near where the other two mantises still stood.

The mantis suddenly dropped down in front of Link, now holding a long and thin nail-lance, and made a blindingly quick swing. Link blocked it with his shield, sending sparks flying, and made for a jab to counter, but the mantis had already jumped back up into the air. It appeared in a blur on the other side of the arena. It dashed toward Link, nail first, but he ducked under it and slashed with his own blade. The mantis sped away in a blur again, reappearing above Link’s head with its nail pointed down. It quickly closed the gap between itself and the ground, with Link diving out of the way just in time to avoid having his armor pierced through. He turned around to counter, but the mantis had already moved to the wall of the cage, and was perched high up on it, holding onto it with one arm.

“That is  _ fast _ !” said Link, under his breath.

He braced himself as the mantis wound back its free arm—the one holding its nail—and threw out a large white projectile that spun like a boomerang so fast that it appeared to emit light. It glided over Link’s head until it reached the other side of the arena, where it dropped to just above the ground and started to make its way back, gaining speed now. Link, not wanting to chance the strength of the bones in his arms, his shield, or his armor, threw himself to the side and onto the ground. The scythe passed over him, and he quickly recovered to see the mantis once again appearing on the opposite side of the arena. It dashed towards him, and he once again ducked under it, this time punching it with his shield. This knocked the wind out out of it and allowed him to get a hard thrust in with his sword.

The mantis let out a grunt as Link withdrew his sword, then in a blur jumped back onto its pillar. It stood for a moment, then collapsed onto one knee.

The other two mantises stood up, then jumped into the arena, disappearing with their incredible speed. They reappeared on the edges of the arena on both sides of Link. Link dove away as they dashed past, then jumped onto the walls of the cage. Both threw out a spinning scythe to their right. They spiraled around each other, getting closer to Link, and before he realized what was happening, they were right upon him. He threw himself onto the ground, and the scythes passed inches above him before moving away.

Suddenly, one of the mantises appeared on the edge of the arena, while the other appeared above his head. He rolled away from their attacks, then dodged again as they both dashed across the floor again. What followed was a dizzyingly fast series of dashes and dives from the mantises while Link struggled to even keep up.

Eventually, the mantises stopped, opting instead to appear right in front of Link, bombarding him with lightning-quick attacks. Link managed to keep up with his swordplay for some time, but his energy was running low, and the mantises showed no sign of letting up as they pushed closer and closer.

_ I miss Din’s Fire _ , Link thought to himself. Suddenly, he had an idea.

He backflipped, then held his sword out horizontally in front of him, secretly charging a spin attack. The two mantises wasted no time, leaping forward with their nails in front of them. As soon as they got close, Link released his spin, letting loose a fully charged burst of magic much more powerful than a quick spin. This magically empowered strike collided head-on with both the mantises. Each let out a cry, then returned to its pillar.

As the cage rose back up into the ceiling and the metal plates covering the spikes were replaced, the mantises bowed from atop their pillars. The door into Deepnest opened.


	23. Deepnest

The first thing that jumped out about Deepnest was the darkness. A lot of places in Hallownest were dark, but Deepnest was  _ extremely _ dark. The environment seemed to devour light, and the only natural sources of it were a few dimly glowing white vines that grew sporadically throughout the area.

The second thing that jumped out was how cramped it was. It was mostly made up of narrow tunnels full of outcroppings of rocks which made it hard not to trip or hit your head. Quick turns and countless dead ends made it all the worse.

The third thing that jumped out was how noisy it was. It wasn’t  _ loud _ , but noisy. Hundreds of tiny, scuttling creatures ran away from the tiniest light, and larger, more beastial bugs could be heard around every corner. Some of these bugs came burrowing out of the ground and attacked any travelers directly. Some of the tunnels were continually traversed by giant centipedes which seemed to take no notice of any of their surroundings.

Link made his way through this hostile environment without too much trouble. Eventually, he came to a huge, and obviously man(bug)-made cavern. It looked a lot like the tram station below the waterways, but the rail at the ceiling was missing and the giant round door was open. Link was glad to see something so defined and organized, but it was littered with the corpses of sentient bugs from hallownest. He walked through the giant door, and into a huge cavern where several trams hung from the ceiling.

High up on the opposite wall was a ledge. It led through a few short rooms, then into another huge cavern, at the end of which was an old tram that had supposedly fallen off the rail. The only entrance was on top. The inside was completely empty aside from a few card-like objects on the floor. Link picked one up. It was a faded yellow, with a red semicircle on the edge and a blue highlight in the middle. On the back, it read:

“ **Hallownest Tramways**

This pass grants lifetime access to any and all of Hallownest’s trams.”

“That’ll be useful,” said Link, stuffing it into his pocket.

As Link moved further into Deepnest, he began to encounter more and more of the spider-like creatures called weavers. After a certain point, he started encountering giant eight-limbed creatures with shields on their claws. The walls started to become covered in string and silk, and giant webs hung about the caverns.

After a few hours of wandering, Link came into a truly enormous cave. It was shaped like a cylinder, at least a hundred feet across and five times as deep. Two huge balls of silk were suspended in the center, with many more stuck to the walls and ceiling. The two in the center had holes in their sides that looked remarkably like doors. Above where Link had entered was another ledge that was marked as the entrance to a stag station. Floating platforms allowed access to the silk balls.

Link entered the smaller ball first. Inside, Brumm—the bug playing the accordion in the Grimm Troupe’s tent—was holding a lantern of red flame. Link had already collected the third flame out of four near the mantis village before entering Deepnest.

“Mrmm. You came,” he said. The fire leapt out of his lantern and into the Grimmchild. “You have gathered the flame and so the time for the ritual's completion is upon us. All you must do now is return to the Master...”

“Uhh, yeah” said Link.

“Thus it goes, as it ever has. We are like the notes in an old, old song. You and me. Mrmm,” Brumm continued. “And yet... It is not merely by fortune that we meet here, in the darkest, furthest reaches of the world, where my Master's scarlet eyes can not see us.

Mrmm. A song that never ends... is no song at all.”

“Very profound,” said Link.

“You take part in the Ritual, yet I sense you truly have no Master. Is it so? Perhaps together we can banish that livid flame and let this dead Kingdom rest in peace,” said Brumm.

Link looked at the Grimmchild, who had been a steadfast companion for the short time he’d had it. “No thanks,” he said.

“Very well,” said Brumm, “If you return to the Master and complete the Ritual... Mrmm. As long as you do it without regret, I will bear you no hatred.”

“Hmm. Thanks,” said Link. He left the room.

Back outside, as he climbed up towards the bigger ball of silk, he spoke to the Grimmchild. “You know,” he said, “What with all the fire, you remind me of Volvagia. I think I’ll name you Vol. That’s a cool name, don’t you think?”

The Grimmchild gave a “Mrroooww” in response.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” said Link. “Alright. Your name is Vol now, got it?”

He made it to the second ball of thread and went inside.

He walked through a short hallway, then came out into a large room. In the center was a bench, and off to the side was a table covered in all kinds of bottles and jars. Standing about the room were eight bugs in red robes.

Link walked up to one. “Um, hello,” he said.

“Greetings. You are very tired. Sit and rest,” it replied.

“Well, can you tell me what this place is first?” asked Link.

“You are very tired. Sit and rest,” it said.

“Umm, okay...” said Link. He walked up to another one. “Can you tell me what this place is?” he asked.

“We are friends. Welcome. Sit and rest.”

“No thanks,” said Link. He went to yet another of the bugs.

“Please sit and rest,” it said, before Link even got a chance to speak.

He went to another one. “What about you?” he said.

“It is warm and safe. Sit and rest.”

“This is way too creepy,” said Link. He walked over to another of the bugs, then punched it in the face.

None of the bugs, not even the one he punched, seemed to notice. “Welcome. You need rest. Sit and rest,” it said.

“Shut up,” said Link. He got out his sword and swung at the bug. It took no notice, and allowed itself to be cut right in half. It fell dead to the floor, and none of the other bugs seemed to care. “I am not sitting on that bench,” he said. He went to another bug and hit it with his dream nail, but heard no thoughts.

“That is not normal,” said Link.

“Sit and rest,” said the bug.

“No.”

“Please sit and rest.”

“I’d rather not.”

“You are tired. Sit and rest.”

“I’m not tired.”

“You need rest. It is warm and safe.”

“No, it isn’t”

“Please sit and rest.”

“I’m going to set this whole place on fire if you don’t stop.”

“It is time to rest.”

“Didn’t you see me kill that guy?” Link asked.

“We are friends. Sit and rest.”

“I’ll kill you too.”

“You need rest. Sit and rest.”

“No. This is some kind of trap, isn’t it?”

* * *

Hornet sat on the platform outside, listening to this conversation which seemed to show no sign of ending anytime soon. She sighed. “Stubbornly intelligent, that one,” she said.

* * *

“That’s it, I’m leaving!” said Link. He walked out of the room and down the hallway. He stepped out of the ball of silk and was struck very hard on the head. He passed out.

* * *

He woke up wrapped in thread and suspended in the air in the middle of a small cave with one exit. Vol floated around him, trying fruitlessly to break his bonds. After waking up, Link wasted no time grabbing his sword and cutting himself down.

Exiting the small room, he came out into a maze-like series of tunnels full of weavers and the giant shielded creatures known as stalking devouts. Some of the rooms contained strange statues of a six-eyed mask, and one of them contained a metal statue of some sort of crab-like creature. After about 30 minutes of wandering around, he came into a large room with burning candles all over the floor. In the center was a raised rectangle of stone a bit like a table on top of which lay a huge bug.

It had a body like that of a slug’s, eight limbs, two horns, and a six-eyes white mask and blue cloak on. Circles of essence constantly floated around it. “That’s one of the dreamers,” said Link. He reached out to it, but a white field appeared and prevented him from touching it.

He knew what he had to do, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to do it. This was one of the dreamers that had tried to lock him away in the dream world. He didn’t know if it would be happy to see him again, and despite that, the idea of entering the Dream World again scared him.  _ Oh, well _ , he thought,  _ I did have the triforce of courage _ . He held out the Dream Nail, and the blade of light extended. He struck the dreamer, and from someone other than his perspective, fell unconscious.

* * *

From Link’s perspective, however, he suddenly appeared standing on a wide stone pillar. Around him, black smoke and giant essence circle floated slowly through the void, and out of the smoke emerged six gargantuan horns. In front of him was another pillar, and beyond that, a large, circular stone platform above which hovered a bright pink light. Link jumped over to the platform, and the light transformed into the bug that was laying on the stone. It floated not high off the ground, looking down at Link and staying silent.

“Um, hello?” said Link.

The dreamer simply continued to look at him.

“Right...” said Link. “Look, I don’t know how you feel about this, but I think I’m supposed to kill you.”

No response

“Okay... If you keep being silent, I’m just gonna go ahead and do it,” he said.

The dreamer remained silent.

“Well, okay, then,” said Link. Before starting, though, he decided to try to hit it with the Dream Nail.

_ Bound... For brood... For child... Fair bargain made...  _ said her thoughts, for the voice was clearly female.

“Here goes nothing,” Link whispered. He slashed at the dreamer with his sword, flinging essence out of her. He continued to slash until the bug collapsed and started spewing essence in all directions. Somehow, Link knew that he should hold out the Dream Nail, and as he started concentrating on it, the essence started to pour into it. More and more flew into the Dream Nail until the bug exploded into essence. Link’s vision went white, then black.

* * *

He woke up next to the now empty stone. Vol was floating around, standing guard, and Hornet sat next to him a few feet away. She was sitting with one leg crossed over the other and looking sullenly at the ground. When Vol noticed Link was awake, he flew over to him and laid down next to him.

“So you’ve slain the beast... and you head towards your fated goal,” said Hornet, looking over at him. “I’d not have obstructed this happening, but it caused me some pain to knowingly stand idle.”

“Why is that?” Link asked.

“Hmm...” said Hornet. “Link, you may think me stern, but I’m not completely cold. It's quite a debt I owed. Only in allowing her to pass, and taking the burden of the future in her stead, can I begin to repay it.

“I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying,” said Link.

Hornet sighed. “Link, we do not choose our mothers, or the circumstance into which we are born. Despite all the ills of this world, I'm thankful for the life she granted me,” Hornet said.

“Oh...” said Link, “She was your mother? I’m sorry.”

“It is not your fault,” said Hornet, “It had to be done. Whether it was you, the ghost, or someone else, it would have happened eventually.”

The conversation paused.

“I really am sorry,” said Link, “I don’t think I’ll ever understand what you’re feeling. My mother died just after I was born, and as far as I know, I’ve never met my father.”

“Oh,” Hornet replied, “I’m sorry, Link. I never would have guessed.”

“Yeah,” said Link. “I know I come off as sarcastic and satirical, but I wasn’t always like that. It’s just...so many of the people I care about have disappeared from my life, and now I’m trapped in this world with no sun, and I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to Hyrule.”

The conversation paused once again.

“Link,” said Hornet, after some time, “there’s a part of Hallownest’s history I neglected to tell you, and which I think you should know now.”

“What is it?” Link asked.

“Deepnest and Hallownest weren’t exactly friendly with each other,” said Hornet, “When the king requested that Herrah become a dreamer, she asked for something in return. You see, Deepnest had no king, and Herrah wanted a child. Her request was that the king grant her a child.”

“Wait,” said Link, “so... that would make you-”

“The princess, yes,” Hornet interrupted, “for all that means now.”

“If you were born before Hallownest fell... that makes you older than Elderbug,” Link said.

“Indeed,” said Hornet, “The king was a higher being. An extremely powerful creature such as Grimm. While they are not immortal, they live much longer than any other bug. Since I am technically half higher being, I, too, live longer than an ordinary bug.”

“Wow,” said Link, “That’s interesting.”

Hornet stood up. “Come with me, Link. I will not leave you to find the Mask Maker on your own any longer,” she said.

“Oh. Thank you,” Link replied.

On the way out, all of the red robed bugs were dead.

* * *

Hornet led Link back through Deepnest into a cavern full of wooden beams. On one side of the room, a black sphere with a hole in its side was embedded in the wall.

“In there,” said Hornet, indicating towards the hole.

Link went inside.

He walked down a narrow black tunnel, emerging into a fairly large chamber. In the center, a large bug with a mask and dark green cloak sat behind a counter. Its mask had four holed coming out from the center, a bit like a clover, and a long point at the top. With two long black arms, it was painting two dark beige masks on the counter white. More white masks, big and small, were scattered about the room.

“I have waited a very long time, mask bearer,” said the Mask Maker, “but what perfect timing you have!”

“Um... What?” said Link.

“It has always been your fate to come to Hallownest. To come to me,” said the Mask Masker, “I have never known when you would appear, however, and I’ll say that you’ve kept me waiting.”

“Uh, sorry?”

“It is not the time for apologies,” said the Mask Maker, “Step forward.”

Link did as he was told, and approached the counter.

“Show me the mask of the dark god.”

Link was taken aback by this. Obviously, the Mask Maker had some tie to him, but how could it know about the Fierce Deity’s Mask? After defeating Majora, he had hoped to never use the mask again. Could its origins tie back to Hallownest? Link didn’t trust this bug he’d just met, but he supposed that if it knew about the mask already, it couldn’t do any harm to show it.

Slowly, he reached into his pack and retrieved the mask. It looked like an older version of his own face, but with gray hair and wearing war paint on its face. He placed it carefully on the counter.

“Ahhh, yes. Very good,” said the Mask Maker. “Your destiny is buried deep. Deeper than I can know, but I do know your immediate task. You must go to the source of the void. Your next mission will come from there. Along the way, find more masks like the False Knight’s. They will be of great use to you.”

“So, go to the Abyss, and also find more masks. Got it,” said Link. “Anything else?”

“Yes,” said the Mask Maker, “I have a very special mask to give you. I have been working on it for a very long time. You will know the right time to use it.”

Suddenly, the Mask Maker began to glow white. It got brighter and brighter until it disappeared, leaving behind a plain, teardrop shaped mask with two eye holes behind. The mask hung in the air for a moment, then fell to the ground.

* * *

“So you must visit the abyss? Fine. I will take you there. It is not far,” said Hornet.


	24. The Abyss

As Hornet led Link through Deepnest, Link continually stared at the white mask in his hand. Just when he thought he had somewhat of a grip on his life again, the Mask Maker goes and transforms itself into a mask. He was so confused. Thinking logically, he knew a powerful mask’s magic worked because it had someones soul in it. That meant that the mask must be powerful, he just had no idea what its purpose was. It did nothing when he put it on. He honestly didn’t believe that even the Mask Maker knew what it did.

After some time, they arrived at a tram station—this one working. Hornet got out a pass of her own pass and slid it into the slot in the large stone. The door opened, and a tram came riding out, coming to a stop by the station. Its door slid open, and Hornet stepped inside. Link followed, distractedly taking a seat as Hornet pressed the button on the dashboard. She seated herself on the opposite side of the tram from him.

They got out at the station below the waterways. Hornet led him down the hole and through a few caverns which had the general color scheme of black. The only inhabitants were strange black bugs with the infection’s orange eyes.

They entered one large cavern with an open door on the side and an egg-like rock next to it. “That is the entrance to the Abyss,” said Hornet.

“That simple, huh?” Link replied.

“Indeed,” said Hornet. She led him inside, and onto a small metal balcony overlooking a truly massive cavern, so massive it was appropriate to call it the Abyss. It was dark, too, and the combination made it so that it was impossible to see much more than 50 feet out. Giant wisps of black smoke drifted throughout the chamber. It was also cold. Not the kind of cold that made you feel like you were going to freeze to death, but the pervasive, moist kind that crept under your skin and made you uncomfortable. The kind that was just too warm to wear a jacket in, but just too cold to go without one. What little of the cavern could be seen contained floating platforms and chunks of rock. Crawling on one of the rocks was another of the black bugs.

Out of the darkness came the Knight, jumping up the platforms. It came up onto the balcony and stopped before them.

“Ghost. I see you've faced the place of your birth, and now drape yourself in the substance of its shadow,” Hornet addressed it, “Though our strength is born of similar source, that part of you, that crucial emptiness, I do not share.”

“Hmph,” said Link.

“Funny then, that such darkness gives me hope,” she continued, “Within it, I see the chance of change. A difficult journey you would face, but a choice it can create. Prolong our world's stasis or face the heart of its infection.”

The Knight left.

“I am glad that the Ghost has already been here,” she said. “Otherwise, we would have had to wait for it to open the door.”

“Did it have some sort of key?” Link asked.

“Of sorts,” said Hornet, “Now, you may descend.”

Link looked down into the abyss. Unlike most of the Hallownest bugs, he couldn’t survive such a long fall. He’d have to use the platforms to get down as well as up. As he descended, he saw that many of the platforms were covered in spikes, had the strange black bugs crawling on them, or both.

He made it to the bottom, where the floor was either completely covered in, or formed out of, the corpses of thousands of vessels. All looked vaguely like the Knight, but with varying shapes and sizes of their horns. There were also broken shells of black eggs dotted about.

Out of the ground, a ball of black shadow emerged. It rose into the air, then seemed to ‘unroll’ itself into the shape of a vessel, only with long tendrils of shadow which hung down from their head instead of a cloak and body. It started hovering towards Link.

Link slashed it with his sword, scattering its shadowy substance through the air. The rest of it reformed itself, then it continued to advance. Vol hit it with a fireball, causing it to completely explode into black particles. A small ball of shadow remained, falling back into the ground.

“Come on, Vol,” said Link, “Let's keep moving.”

A doorway on the wall led down a long tunnel. After a time, the tunnel was blocked by a pool of black liquid. Beyond it was a stone landing, with a rise behind that. As Link approached the pool, it transformed into a mass of writhing and thrashing tentacles which lashed out at Link.

“Is this the void?” Link asked himself, bending down. He moved his face out of the way as a tendril lashed out at him. “Certainly isn’t friendly.” He nocked a light arrow on his bow, its tip glowing softly with a pure white glow. He shot it into the pool, causing it to explode into light and what seemed like sparks of electricity to spread through the pool, calming the void’s tendrils back into still liquid. The sparks remained for a few seconds, slowly settling, then disappeared, and the tentacles reformed.

Link nodded to himself. He shot another light arrow into the pool, then vaulted across it while it was calmed. Up the rise, there were a few more pools of void in the rest of the tunnel, but they were down pits or under floating platforms and were easily jumped over.

At the end of the tunnel, it opened into another gigantic cavern, this one even darker than the last. More pools of void dotted the landscape, and after a moment, a huge stone tower became visible in the center of the cavern. A large beam of light radiated from it, illuminating a large lake of void in front of it, keeping it still. He didn’t know why, but something told him he should swim out into the lake. He couldn’t see anywhere else to go, so, reluctantly, he put on the Zora’s Mask and jumped in.

It was cold. Very cold. It was slick and oily and uncomfortable. Link made his way across as fast as possible, finding a ledge at the mouth of a narrow tunnel. Walking down it, it was very long with a low ceiling. At the end, a small hole in the ceiling led up, while a pool of void blocked the part of the tunnel moving forward. Not wanting to waste his magic on light arrows, Link went up with the mantis claws (it being too dark to use the hookshot). This turned out to be a good call, as the tunnel led around and back down past whatever room the void was guarding.

It ended in a room that contained nothing but a giant, round, fat bug made of stone. Two of its six arms were held out, containing a large stone bowl from which void continually overflowed.

“Well, Mask Maker said to find the source of the void,” said Link, “This had better be it.”

He tried to fire his hookshot into the bowl, but it bounced harmlessly off of the bottom. He instead fired it into the ceiling above the bowl, then lowered himself carefully onto its edge, which was wide enough to stand on. There seemed to be no limit on the amount of void in the bowl, as the black liquid continued to leak out. This void didn’t lash out, however, and instead peacefully flowed into the ground.

Suddenly, Link was overcome with the feeling that he should drop the Fierce Deity’s Mask in the bowl. His reason told him that it was a terrible idea, but his instincts insisted that he do it. Slowly, carefully, he got the mask out of his pouch. He held it in front of him with both hands regarding it with disdain, then let go of it. It fell through the air, then plunged into the bowl.

Immediately, the void exploded into a mass of reaching, writhing tendrils longer than any yet. Link fell off of the bowl as they knocked him off balance, then watched from the ground as they felt around, slowly retracting back into the bowl. Once they had all settled back inside, the bowl spat the mask back out. It flew up in an arc through the air, then landed on the ground in front of Link.

Link crawled over to it and picked it up. All the war paint on the mask’s face had changed from red and blue to a hard black. “How strange,” he said. He looked at it for a while longer. Nothing else was changed.

“Thank you, bearer,” said a hard, stern voice from somewhere. “It has been far too long.”

“Who's there?” Link said, quickly standing up. He drew his sword.

“I am the mask,” the voice responded, the source now clearly being the mask on the ground.

“What?” Link whispered. He picked the mask back up. “Are you...alive?”

“In a way, yes,” the mask responded. “As you can see, I am sentient. However, I was dormant for a very long time. The void has revitalized me, and for that I am thankful.”

“Oh. Uh, you’re welcome?” said Link. “The Mask Maker said that I had to come here. Is this why.”

“Ahh, yes, the Mask Maker,” said the mask, “I know of this creature... It played quite a role in my origins. If you were sent by it, then you must be the hero, are you not?”

“Yeah,” Link replied, “I’ve been called that.”

“Hmm...” said the mask. “What is your name, hero?”

“Link.”

“It seems our destinies are intertwined, Link,” the mask said. “In the past, you were a very mysterious figure who appeared in the prophecies of the ancient civilization. Not even I know your fate. However, I do know what you must do to meet it.”

“Oh?”

“Indeed. If you are to meet your destiny, you must undergo a transformation into a higher being. You will accomplish this by using me to defeat the heart of the infection, the Radiance, where it is imprisoned in the black egg at the top of the world. This will merge the two of us together, killing me. Only with the powers gained from this transformation can you succeed,” the mask said.

“What kind of powers?” Link asked.

“The truly empty vessel makes his way to defeating the Radiance as we speak,” said the mask, “It will not survive the battle. The transformation will give you its spells and abilities. In addition, all the masks you have acquired will be incorporated into your being, dimming their power, but giving you constant access to all of them.”

“Hmm... I don’t know if I want to kill you,” said Link.

“Do not worry,” said the mask, “I have lived long enough already. Besides, a small part of my consciousness will live in your mind, though you may never hear it. The same will happen with your other masks. They will not be any more dead than they are now.”

“Oh,” said Link, thinking. “Is there a catch?”

“Good question,” said the mask, “As it turns out, the void in the egg which spurs the transformation bestows a powerful curse.”

“I knew it,” said Link. “So what is it?”

“Every vessel contains a shade,” said the mask, “A void being which inhabits the vessel’s ghostly and hollow body. They are the closest thing the vessel has to a soul. If the vessel ever loses the shade, they must defeat it to get it back, while it attacks the vessel on sight. The transformation’s curse will create a powerful and intelligent shade for you. However, overcoming it will make you even more powerful. It is indeterminate when the curse will manifest. It could appear anywhere from months to decades after the transformation takes place.”

“Oh,” said Link. “I’m guessing I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

“Your guess would be correct.”


	25. The Lost Vessel

As Link left the Abyss, coming back into the Ancient Basin, the Fierce Deity’s Mask, now strapped onto Link’s waist, spoke. “Wait,” it said.

“What is it?” Link asked.

“I can sense something nearby,” said the mask. “A vessel, perhaps. You may want to investigate.”

“Do you know where?”

“Yes. It should be out the doorway at the edge of the cavern to your left,” said the mask.

Link went through, coming into a room where the ground dropped off into a giant spike-filled tunnel a little ways in. Near the ledge was a bench. He swung across with his hookshot, then went through a few more tunnels, emerging into a cavern where two orange bubbles of infection lay. They were nearly five feet in diameter, and in the center of the room sat the corpse of a vessel. It had one long horn and one short one, and part of the back of its head had been broken, revealing its hollow insides. Circles of essence floated around it.

“That is it,” said the mask.

Link walked over to it, and hit it with his Dream Nail.

He appeared standing on a floating rock in the Dream World. Below him, a chunk of rock a little bigger than the room he’d just been in. It had a roof covered in metal spikes. Link made his way along the floating platforms that appeared in front of him and down to the rock’s entrance, where a short hall went into an almost exact duplicate of the room which held the vessel, except that the vessel was gone.

“Before you enter, Link, I must warn you. Few creatures are as weak-willed as the maggots, and you will not have as easy a time claiming their masks,” said the Fierce Deity’s Mask.

“Oh. Will this give me a mask?” Link asked.

“Yes.”

Link put on the False Knight’s Mask, then went into the room.

A barrier of essence appeared in the doorway behind him, and the vessel dropped from the ceiling. It now had a large bubble of infection coming out of the hole in its head, and its eyes glowed orange. It tilted back its head and let out a low scream, then sped towards Link.

When it got close, it swung with its nail. Link blocked it with his shield, ducked under it, and tackled the vessel, knocking the nail out of its hand. He impaled the vessel with his sword, holding it steady as the vessel thrashed about. A few floating balloons of infection appeared and drifted towards Link, but they didn't have enough force to get through his armor.

After about 15 seconds, the vessel stopped struggling, and lowered its head to the ground. The infection in its head separated into pieces the size of a fist with legs and ran away. All of the balloons 'popped' and scattered into flakes of orange gel.

A dream ghost of the vessel, without the infection, appeared above its corpse and looked down at Link. Link nodded to himself, then got out the Ocarina of Time and played the song of healing. After hearing the song, the vessel bowed, then faded away.

Link's vision went white, then dark.

* * *

Link woke up in the real world, where the vessel's corpse had been replaced by a mask that resembled its face, infection included.

"I must say, Link, you dealt with that very quickly," said the Fierce Deity's Mask.

"Yeah, I'm surprised too," Link replied, "I'm relieved, though. From that first rush, it seems like its speed alone would have made it a problem." He bent down and picked up the mask. "I wonder what this does."

“Hmm...” said the Fierce Deity’s Mask. “It appears to draw its power no from the vessel that formed it, but from the infection within it. When you wear it, you’ll have a sort of ‘super sense’ which warns you of all incoming attacks, as well as moderately increased mobility.”

“Oh. Well, that’s neat,” said Link.

“However, since the mask’s power is drawn from the infection, using it too much or too often could cause you to fall very ill.”

“That’s...not as neat.”

He went back to the main cavern of the basin, then down a short tunnel. At the end was a blue sign sticking out of the ground, and a steep rise leading into another tunnel. He used his hookshot to get up, then after walking a short way, came onto a white bridge across a deep canyon. It was made out of metal, and extravagantly decorated with large spikes. On the other side were the ruins of some huge building, next to which lay the white armored corpse of some four-armed bug. Its helmet was pointed like a crown, and several vines of void were coming out of its helmet and down into the ground.

“Is this the palace?” Link wondered aloud.

“Hmm...” said the Fierce Deity’s Mask. “I do not know. I was taken out of Hallownest long before the actual ‘Kingdom of Hallownest’ was founded.”

“How do you know about the Black Egg, then?” Link asked.

“It is through a connection to the void that occured when I was dropped in the bowl,” said the Mask.

“Hmm.”

On the other side of the cavern was a stag station. Link rang the bell, and soon the thundering roar of the approaching stag could be heard. It stopped at the station and looked up at Link. “Ah, so you’ve been this deep as well?” he said. “We truly are at the bottom of the world. What bizarre things are happening lately...”

Link rode the stag to Dirtmouth, then walked to the Grimm Troupe’s red tent.

“Ready to go see your dad, Vol?” he said.


	26. The Final Dance

Link went inside the tent and made his way down the hallway. It was dark, as usual, and Brumm was missing from his normal spot. When Link got to the main room, the seats were gone, and only the dim light of two hanging red lanterns illuminated the room.

Grimm was missing.

He didn’t appear in his usual place, and the room stayed dark and silent, apart from the crackling of the lanterns. It was then that Link noticed a doorway on the opposite end of the room that he’d never seen before. Going inside, it led down another long, dark hallway until it entered a very small room with a raised platform on the opposite side. Grimm hung from the ceiling in the center of the room, seemingly asleep, as circles of red essence drifted lazily around him. About once every second, he twitched. Link guessed, correctly, that the platform existed to allow use of the Dream Nail, and climbed onto it.

“I will not be able to follow you into the Nightmare Realm,” the Fierce Deity’s mask warned. “Neither will the Grimmkin’s child.”

“Yeah, okay,” said Link, before hitting Grimm with the Dream Nail.

* * *

He appeared on what seemed to be the same platform, in the same room, only Grimm was gone. He started walking back down the hallway, but stopped about 15 feet down when he noticed something strange next to the wall on the right. It looked like some kind of vine, alternating between red and navy blue in color. A few more feet down and to the left, a strange covered lantern lay on the floor. Down the hall, Link walked past several more of these vines and lanterns, the former of which seemed to be beating.

At the end of the hallway, several larger vines grew into the floor, which changed to look like a poorly-stitched patchwork of red and navy fabric. Beyond was a room filled with thick red smoke. Link walked inside, and when he got to the middle, it suddenly faded.

The fading smoke revealed the rows of Grimmkin that sat in the background, watching and bouncing slightly up and down and the covered lanterns illuminating the room, but also what was obviously the focal point of the chamber, a giant face hanging from the ceiling.

It was more of a mask, really. Long, narrow, and composed of a darkish red fabric that was stitched together. It had two narrow eyes and sat in front of two other masks, each wider than the last, which seemed almost to have been pried open by the mask in front of them.

After a few seconds, a split appeared in the middle of the mask, glowing red and leaking smoke. It split open much further, and red and white fire began to pour out of it. Link decided that this moment would be good to try out the ‘Broken Vessel's Mask’, as he had named it, and he put it on as a silhouette that looked remarkably like Grimm appeared in the fire. The mask merged with Link’s face. The white part disappeared, but the bubble of infection grew to cover his whole head. Gates of red essence blocked the room’s exit, and the silhouette, fire, and red glow vanished from the split in the mask, which itself started to beat like a heart.

In a puff of red smoke, Grimm appeared in front of Link. His cloak and horns were now completely red, and his red eyes betrayed no emotion. This wasn't Grimm, Link realized as the bug dashed toward him at lightning speed. Thanks to the Broken Vessel's Mask, however, Link easily dodged his attack, and the bug continued with an upward slash that carried it into the air. It disappeared, scattering a circle of six red fireballs. This bug moved robotically, without emotion. It attacked with no flair or personality, making no sound.

Silent. The Nightmare King.

The Nightmare King materialized in the air in front of Link. Link dove aside as a pillar of flame sprang up suddenly from beneath him. Three more appeared, one after another, and Link avoided them all. The Nightmare King teleported onto the ground across the room from Link, held out his arm with his cloak open, and released four fire bats at Link.

Link dodged or blocked them all, but couldn't get close enough to the Nightmare King to attack him before he teleported again, this time appearing in the air above Link. He dove down at Link, but he sidestepped, giving the Nightmare King a nasty slash with his sword. The Nightmare King scattered into a dozen or so shadowy versions of Vol, one of which had red eyes. After flying about for a few seconds, they regrouped and reformed.

The fight continued in this way for about a minute and a half longer, seeming to go in slow-motion to Link as the mask warned him of every incoming attack.

After that time, the Nightmare King took on his puffed out form, sending small fireballs in every direction. At the same time, flames began to pour out of the split in the mask again.

_ I miss Nayru's Love _ , Link thought as he wove through the fire, nocked an ice arrow, and fired. The arrow, despite its magical enhancement, simply bounced off of the Nightmare King, forcing Link to keep dodging until he stopped,disappearing.The spikes of his cloak shot out of the ground, and Link jumped away just in time.

_ This mask is almost invincible _ , Link realized as he dodged expertly around every attack. He sidestepped a dash, then thrust with his sword. The Nightmare King teleported just behind him, and he turned around, blocking a claw swipe with his shield. The Nightmare King slashed low with his other claw, and while Link knew it was coming, he wasn't quite fast enough to dodge it completely. He received a shallow cut in the lower right of his torso.

The Nightmare King kept the pressure up, making swipe after swipe. Link kept up reasonably well, then after a time, predicted the next attack would come high and across. He ducked under the attack, then lunged for the Nightmare King, plunging his sword deep inside the mysterious bug.

The attack should have killed him, but instead the Nightmare King transformed to his pufferfish form again and started expelling fire. After weaving in and out for about thirty seconds, the fight continued. Fast and chaotic, it truly did resemble a vicious, deadly dance.

It couldn’t go on forever, though, and eventually, Link landed the killing blow. Now covered in small scrapes and burns, he watched as the Nightmare King burst violently into flames, then disappeared in a scarlet explosion. The masks in the center of the room, now covered in holes, began to pour of red fire at an alarming rate. The silhouette of the Nightmare King reappeared, then the flames consumed everything but Link and the silhouette, turning the world white.

The Nightmare King’s frame shattered.

* * *

Link woke up lying on the ground outside of Dirtmouth with all of his wounds erased. The large red tent, and everything that had come with it, was gone. The only thing left of the Grimm troupe was the second tent, but the only thing in it was a bug who ate charms. Vol lay next to him, wrapped in something gray. It woke up and Link realized the gray thing was actually a pair of wings. Vol had grown, and now had a head that looked just like a smaller version of Grimm’s, a thin and long red body, and large gray wings like those of a bat’s.

“So, you’re finally awake,” said the Fierce Deity’s Mask, as both Link and Vol got up off the ground.

“Sorry,” said Link. “Did I take too long? It’s not like you could go anywhere without me anyway.”

“Indeed.”

“Let’s see...” said Link, taking out his map. “Last I checked, there were two dreamers left, but it looks like the Knight has taken care of the one in the city. That just leaves the one in the fog canyon. I guess I’ll take care of it.”


	27. Monomon The Teacher

With his new wings, Vol could now fly like an eagle, and he had quite a fun time performing flips and tricks on the way to the Fog Canyon. Link watched with mild interest. Now that the resemblance between Grimm and Vol was clearer, he was curious as to whether Vol would grow up to look like Grimm, or whether he’d be completely different. Based on the Hunter’s Journal entries for the Grimm Troupe, he’d put together a few scraps of lore. It seemed that the ‘Nightmare King’ was the manifestation of something called ‘The Heart.’

Its actual form was the three giant masks on the ceiling of the tent, which made sense because they beat like a heart, but after time it runs out of energy. In order to keep the heart alive, the Grimm Troupe travels to a fallen kingdom, ‘harvests its flames’, and renews the heart. The ritual of renewal, which was what Link had just participated in, results in the death of the old leader, in this case Grimm, and the birth of a new leader, Vol. ‘Burn the father, feed the child,’ the journal had said, supposedly quoting the troupe itself.

What this meant was that the ‘Nightmare King’ wasn’t dead, but now lived inside of Vol. Link had no particular feelings about this, since the ritual didn’t seem to hurt anyone except the Troupe’s current leader, but he was quite affectionate towards Vol. He didn’t like the idea that someone like him would come along and repeat the ritual, resulting in Vol’s death, but he guessed that when it inevitably happened, it would be long after he was dead.

That was the way of things, he supposed. Though he was only nine years older than Vol, Vol was definitely a ‘higher being’, and most likely had an extremely prolonged lifespan. Hornet was born before Elderbug, whose life began in the very, very last days of Hallownest’s civilization, and still had the energy of someone very young. Link knew next to nothing about bugs’ life cycles, but he knew that this was unusual. Hornet was essentially a demigod.

Eventually, after crossing a small acid lake, he came to a place where a doorway was blocked by a pillar of shadowy substance. Its source was obviously two round black stones embedded in the top and bottom of the doorway. They had metal ‘teeth’ locking them in place.

Link reached out to touch the barrier, but as soon as he did, his hand was blown back a small distance and a shock ran up his arm. “Right,” he said. He shot the stone in the top of the doorway and saw the sparks spread over it and the barrier get thinner. He shot the other stone and the barrier dissipated. He stepped through before it reappeared. He bought a proper map from Cornifer in the next room, however he got there, then continued.

A little later, Link came out of a tunnel on a ledge high on the wall of a large cavern which held a beatiful, dome-shaped building with green windows in the distance. Ooma, the explosive floating jellyfish creatures of the canyon, floated around it, and the entrance was a long tunnel which extended all the way to the area of the chamber near Link. A bug stood next to the entrance, observing the building in the distance.

“Quirrel!” Link shouted, recognizing the bug. He started to jump down the series of platforms leading to the bottom.

Quirrel turned around, noticed Link, and waved (he would have smiled if he had a mouth). “Ah, Link,” he said as Link made it over to him, “It is good to see you again. What is this creature which follows you?” he asked, indicating towards Vol.

“This is Vol,” said Link. Vol responded with a small flip. “It’s a long story.”

“I have no shortage of time,” said Quirrel. “This building is familiar to me, and I seem to be called here, but there is no hurry to enter.”

“Hmph,” the Fierce Deity’s Mask grunted.   
“Oh?” said Quirrel. “And who is this?”

“Also a long story,” said Link.

“Oh ho!” said Quirrel. “Then let’s sit down and you can tell me, then.”

* * *

Link and Quirrel stepped inside the building, coming into a corridor. The walls were a color in between brass and bronze, and strange green light fixtures on the ground accompanied the green windows. They came into a large room that was full of strange glass tubes with brass-bronze tops and bases. They ranged in size from a few inches in diameter and Link’s height, to more than two feet in diameter and more than four times his height. All had weird and indecipherable text floating inside them.

“How strange...” said Quirrel, touching one of the tubes.

“Got any idea what these are?” Link asked.

“No,” said Quirrel.

“Hmm.”

They descended through a few more similar rooms, some of which contained Ooma and Uoma (baby Ooma), and crossed a few pools of acid. There were also groups of lumaflies which would create an electrical shock every few seconds. They then came into a large room with a pool of acid in the bottom and platforms in the air and the pool. It had especially large tubes of text in them. A gate closed above them, and the other two exits closed too.

“Here we go,” said Link.

Suddenly, a giant Ooma burst forth from the acid. It had short tentacles, and in its cor was a cluster of orange spheres, instead of just one. It stopped in the middle of the room, then started to hover slowly towards Link and Quirrel. It stopped, and small sparks of electricity appeared all around the room. Link and Quirrel hopped out of the way as they grew in size, then they dissipated.

Link and Quirrel looked to each other, then nodded. Link waved his arm towards the Ooma, and Vol soared toward it, spitting out balls of fire. None of his attacks had any effect, however, so Link and Quirrel closed in on it, and Quirrel sliced its gelatinous shield open. He was impressively fast, seeming to teleport when he jumped around the room, and dashing right through the Ooma when he cut it. It seemed to deflate as its transparent ‘skin’ fell loosely over its core, which Link and Voll attacked without hesitation.

It quickly regained its substance, though, and it released bursts of electricity which chased them away from it. They dispersed, and Link and Quirrel once again closed in on it.

This process repeated five times, then the Ooma exploded, spewing out orange gas.

“I never knew you were so agile, Quirrel,” Link said.

“Hmm?” said Quirrel. “Oh, yes. Being in Hallownest has quite forced me to regain my strength.

“Fair enough.”

They continued down through a few more rooms, then came into a room where a giant green tube with a brass-bronze top was suspended. A few white tentacles and a faint, undefined form hovered in the acid in the tube. A small platform on the side of the wall kept the tube up and also allowed access to its side. Quirrel jumped up, and Link used his hookshot. A small metal circle with a green window sat in the tube’s side.

Link touched it. “What do they need a window for if the tube is made of glass?” he wondered aloud.

“Ah,” said Quirrel, remembering.

“What is it?” Link asked.

“Did she call you here too, Link? We arrived together here by no coincidence,” said Quirrel. “I recall this place, despite my memories being mostly blank.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Within these chambers the Teacher sought to store the Kingdom's knowledge and at its core, she stored herself. To save Hallownest, the Teacher willingly became a seal, but upon herself she enacted an additional protection. Though I cannot recall its happening, I played a part in that feat,” said Quirrel. “She called me here, now, to reverse that protection. All in aid of you.”

“Really...?” said Link, turning to look at Quirrel.

“Indeed,” said Quirrel.

He took his mask off the top of his head, then held it straight out towards the tank. White spheres of white light started to fly out of it and into the window, taking small pieces of it away. They sped into a torrent of white light, then stopped as the mask vanished. Quirrel fell to his knees. The mask reappeared, being worn by a bug in the tank, which now could be seen clearly. It had a white body, which started skinny, then widened out in the bottom, where its tentacles hung from. A navy blue cloak hung down from its mask.

“Do not hesitate,” said Quirrel from the ground. “The choice to reform was hers, not mine. She knows what you would do and seems to welcome it.”

Link looked into the tank. “Monomon, right?” he said. “Well, here goes nothing.”

He struck the small window with the Dream Nail.

* * *

He appeared in the Dream World, in an area identical to the one where he’d found Herrah. A light hovered over the large platform in front of him. He jumped over to it, and it formed into the shape of Monomon. Link hit Monomon with the Dream Nail.

_ ...For diversity, a Seal... A world forever unchanging... The Seals, must break... Forever... Better, an end... _ said her thoughts.

Link waited a moment, the started to attack Monomon with his sword. After a certain time, the dreamer shattered into essence, which the Dream Nail absorbed.

Link’s vision went white, then black.

* * *

When Link awoke, the tank was empty.

“The Madam’s life is extinguished and with it her seal breaks,” said Quirrel, still kneeling down. “It’s a heavy thing that you attempt, but I’ve seen you and that little knight’s prowess up close and she too believed you capable. Be on your journey then, and allow me to rest a time. With the deed complete, I begin to feel my age.”

“Sure,” said Link.

* * *

As he left the archives, Link addressed the Fierce Deity’s Mask.

“Why haven’t you spoken for so long?” he asked.

“I haven’t needed to,” said the mask.

“Ah.”


	28. The White Lady

Link came back into the main chasm of the canyon, then noticed that just across from him there was a doorway he’d never noticed before. He went inside, then came onto the bank of an acid pond. A mass of large vines with orange spikes hanging from the ceiling made it so the only way across was to swim. This didn’t bother Link, so he put on the Zora’s Mask and swam through.

He got up on the opposite side in front of a large metal gate with intricate designs in its doors. He went through, passed some giant plant buds, and went through a doorway under a metal pavilion. He came out in another cavern which was completely overgrown. As he walked through, a husk covered in plant growth fired orange spikes out of its body in all directions. Link avoided them, then killed it. Its corpse extended spikes from itself, then lay on the ground like a giant caltrop. Link hit it with his sword, and it exploded into orange gas.

He made his way through the ‘garden’ as the area seemed to be. There were lots of constructed buildings and overgrown paths through the greenery. It obviously hadn’t been taken care of for a long time, as infected bugs and husks, as well as some sort of second tribe of mantis inhabited it. Some of them could fly like the mantis youths, but were skinnier and shot out boomerang-like scythes as their attacks. The adults were the opposite, being shorter and fatter than their counterparts in the Fungal Wastes.

He came into one room where Cornifer sat, drawing up a map. Link walked over to him. “Hi,” he said.

“Oh, hello, Link,” said Cornifer. “Have you ever heard of Hallownest’s Queen? Apparently, these gardens were her retreat.”

“Really?” said Link.

“Now some vicious types are crawling all over the place and the plants have grown wild.”

“I’m seen them,” said Link.

“Yes, I’d expect you have,” said Cornifer. “Would you care to buy a map of the area?”

“Sure,” said Link.

“The Queen, huh?” he said to himself as he left the room.

Link and Vol had no trouble making it through the gardens, even when they were attacked by the Mantises’ leader, the Traitor Lord, and they came into a narrow tunnel. As they walked down, they passed a few white glowing roots, then came into a cavern. A giant gray ball sat in the center, with more white roots emerging from cracks in its surface. A small hole in its side was just big enough for someone to crawl through. It was guarded by the corpse of a white warrior, surrounded by other bugs’ corpses. A dragonfly-like bug flew leisurely around the room.

Link stuck his head in the hole. It led down a short but cramped tunnel with glowing white sides. “Is anyone in here?” he said. He thought he heard something back, but he wasn’t sure. “Oh, well,” he said. He climbed into the hole head first, then squeezed his way through, bit by bit.

He came out in a tiny black room with a hole in the floor. White roots covered the walls. He slid down the pit, landing in another similar room. He slid down the second hole, then emerged in a short hallway. He walked down it, then came into a large room. A giant creature with a white head, covered with gray wrappings sat in the middle. The white roots extended from its head and places in its body, and its eyes were closed. It seemed to be sleeping.

When Link approached, it opened its eyes. “Oh! One arrives,” she said. “Could the whispers have been true?”

“What?” Link asked.

“Hmm...” she continued, “It bears with it the Troupe’s child. Truly, it is an incredible creature. Though I have little wisdom on the ancient civilization’s prophecies, it may be folly to call it friend.”

Link looked at Vol. “Hmph...”

“Ah...” said the creature. “But it carries with it something else as well. Hmm... That object at your waist... So they are true...”

“Um...” Link said, confused. The Fierce Deity’s Mask did not speak.

“The void whispered of a creature from a far off land who would defeat the old light on its way to a greater destiny somewhere else. Hmm... I was intrigued by them, but the Wyrm ignored them. He claimed that Hallownest was the one and only civilization, and that the void whispered only lies... Now you appear to us as the Pure Vessel’s strength weakens,” said the creature. “It is true that you were not expected.”

“No,” said the Fierce Deity’s Mask. “It is good that the Wyrm continued with his plan, for it is the Vessel which is our way to the light.”

“Ah...” said the white creature. “What a bizarre series of coincidences which have perfectly arranged for the fulfillment of fate. I implore you, then, complete your destiny. I do not know what it entails, but its importance is clear to me. I feel it in my roots, this kingdom’s death is not far.

“As its former queen, I am sure you can save it.”


	29. The Soul Tyrant

Link rode the Stag to the Resting Grounds and went to see the Seer.

“Ah, Link, you have returned,” she said as he walked in. “Is there something you need of me?”

“Yeah, actually,” said Link. “I’m supposed to be finding masks, and I was wondering if you knew where some of them might be.” He pulled out the False Knight’s Mask and the Broken Vessel’s Mask. “They’re supposed to be like this.”

“Ah...yes, the dream masks... I know of them. Give me a moment, and I will locate them,” sahe said. She closed her eyes, then concentrated for a moment. Circles of essence floated around her, then dispersed. She opened her eyes. “Yes... I can sense it. There is only one mask left in Hallownest. It is located in the city of tears... In the Soul Sanctum.”

“Oh,” said Link. “He wasn’t very excited about returning to the Soul Sanctum. Well, thank you,” he said, before leaving.

Before he went to the city, he had a strange urge to visit the blue lake. He made his way down to it, then stepped out onto its bank, where Quirrel was sitting, looking out over the water.

“You did say you wanted to see it before you left, didn’t you?” said Link as he approached and sat down next to him.

“Indeed,” said Quirrel. “Here at last, I feel at peace. Twice I've seen this world, and though my service may have stripped the first experience from me, I'm thankful I could witness its beauty again. Hallownest is a vast and wondrous thing, but in as many wonders as it holds, you’re definitely the most intriguing thing of all.”

“Really?” Link asked, turning his head to look straight at Quirrel.

“Oh, yes,” said Quirrel, leaning his head back. “You’ll have quite a story to tell one day, I’m sure of it.”

“That’s for sure,” said Link, looking ahead again.

“Oh, and don’t worry,” said Quirrel, chuckling, “I’m sure you’ll make it back to hyrule eventually. But while you have the opportunity, I suggest you take advantage of this unique chance to see so many different lands. It’s not a chance that many get.”

“Thanks,” said Link.

* * *

Link stepped into the room where the Soul Master’s corpse still lay, surrounded by essence. “Stupid cultists,” he said, before hitting it with the Dream Nail.

He appeared in the Dream World, below a floating building with a spiked roof. He made his way up a series of platforms, then into the building. It led down a short hall, then out onto a rooftop identical to the one he’d fought the Soul Master on. Link put on the False Knight’s Mask and readied his bow with ice arrows, then went inside.

The Soul Master appeared, floating in the air, and Link immediately shot an ice arrow at him. He froze in place, falling to the ground, and Link charged his sword with magic, waiting for the Soul Master to break out. He did, and Link stabbed him. The magic burst from his blade and into the Soul Master, who let out a cry. He teleported to above the window and slammed down through it, taking the floor that Link was standing on away.

He landed in the room below, large and filled with corpses, and readied himself for the onslaught that he knew was coming. The Soul Master began slamming repeatedly into the ground. Link dodged out of the way, getting battered by a few shockwaves along the way.

The Soul Master stopped, and instead floated in the air, firing projectiles of soul. Link didn’t have enough magic left to perform another stunt like that, so he instead fired a barrage of normal arrows, which quickly ended the fight.

The Soul Master fell to the ground.

A Dream Ghost of the Soul Master appeared above it, and Link went over to see it. “In my dreams I could see it,” he said, “The Kingdom's salvation, the cure for the plague... the answer was in the soul that animates our bodies. But the King... why?! He opposed everything I did… His jealousy... his madness... by standing against me he robbed me of my immortality! Now the King and his Kingdom are dead... but I... will live forever.”

Link wordlessly got out the Ocarina of Time, and played the Song of Healing. His vision went white, then black.

* * *

When he woke, a mask in the shape of the Soul Master’s face was lying where his corpse used to be. Link picked it up. “What does it do?” he asked the Fierce Deity’s Mask.

“Hmm...” said the mask. “When you wear it, you can use soul to teleport up to a certain distance... You have to already be able to use soul on your own, however.”

“How am I supposed to use that?” Link asked.

“The Mask Maker said they would be useful, correct? She did not say they would be useful immediately,” said the mask.

“Yeah, fair enough,” said Link. “Well, that was the last mask, so I guess we should go to the black egg now.”

“Indeed.”

He decided to take the nearby elevator up to the crossroads, then go to the Black Egg from there. He actually hadn’t been through the crossroads since his first time entering Hallownest, so he wanted to see them again.

He stepped off the elevator, and immediately noticed that the exit to the room Had several large bubbles of infection above it. An orange vine with a few smaller bubbles grew on the wall, and orange liquid was dripping from the top of the doorway.

“Oh,” said Link.

The next few rooms had even more infection in them. Link made sense of it after thinking about it, though. The Dreamers were gone, and with them their seals. The infection was leaking out already, so without the seals, it was free to pour out, even if just into the crossroads.

Either way, the infection was menacing and made it hard to breathe. At first, this seemed to be the only difference, but as he walked into one cavern, he was attacked by a vengefly that had been completely overtaken by the infection. It had the bubbles of orange growing on its body, and it had grown to almost ten times its normal size. When it attacked, it was vicious and mindless, simply flying towards Link in a straight line. Once Link killed it, it laid on the ground for a few seconds, then exploded violently.

As it turned out, most of the bugs had been transformed in similar ways, and many of them exploded upon death. Link made it through just fine, though, and as he walked into the Temple of the Black Egg, he found it covered in infection, with orange wines growing all over it. The three mask emblems that once occupied the door were gone, leaving only empty sockets. Link found a clean spot to sit, then sat down and waited for the Knight to arrive


	30. Dream No More

Link waited for quite some time, after which Hornet entered the temple. Link was busy absently knocking his sword against the ground.

“You’ll dull the blade if you continue that, Link,” she said as she walked in.

“I know,” Link replied, “but it’s very strong. It’s already chipped a hole in the floor. Did I ever tell you I took it through time with me?”

“No,” said Hornet. “Very well, then. It’s not my weapon.”

“Yeah, I guess I’ll stop,” said Link, putting his sword away. “I guess the big fight is coming up, huh?”

“Indeed,” said Hornet. “The Ghost of Hallownest... It will either replace the Hollow Knight, or it will truly defeat the light forever.”

“Hmm.”

“Tell me, Link,” said Hornet, “why do you risk your life for this? As I’ve gathered, you’re from another world. Why would you want to save a Kingdom that’s already gone?”

“...Who knows?” said Link. “Maybe it’s just an impulse I have, or maybe it has something to do with this,” he held out the back of his right hand, with the glowing triangle of the triforce of courage on it. “Maybe I’m just bored and I want something to do. Really I’m just doing what I’m told though. That’s what I’ve always done.”

Hornet looked at him. “I understand,” she said.

They waited for a while longer, and eventually Hornet sat down as well. Link started to play a few songs on his ocarina to entertain himself. First was the Bolero of Fire, the song of the fire temple and the rock-eating gorons.

“Mmm...” said Hornet, “That song reminds me of Ogrim. Perhaps I should visit him soon.”

“I’m sure he’d enjoy that,” said Link.

“Yes, I think he would,” said Hornet.

The next song was the Nocturne of Shadow, a song embodying Hyrule’s true history of blood and death. It was dark and mysterious. After that, he played the Song of Storms, then the Song of Time. He hadn’t played the Song of Time in a while.

“That Song is Powerful, isn’t it?” Hornet said. “I can feel it.”

“Yes. It’s called the Song of Time,” said Link. “It can manipulate time, but I don’t know all of its abilities yet.”

Next he played Zelda’s Lullaby.

“That’s a beautiful song,” said Hornet. “I’ve actually always wanted to learn how to play an instrument.”

“Really?” said Link. “Well, I don’t know about Hallownest, but in Hyrule, we have certain kinds of instruments that are made with strings.

“Hmm...” said Hornet. “I have been told that the Weavers spun songs from their webs, but they left the kingdom before I was born.”

Next, Link played Saria’s Song. He stopped.

Saria’s Song.

He brought the ocarina down from his lips, then let out a sigh. He was suddenly struck with a wave of homesickness.

Hornet looked up. “What is it, Link?” she asked.

“Nothing,” said Link.

Link went to sleep for a while, then they waited some more.

Finally, footsteps could be heard outside. Hornet stood up, and Link followed her lead. The Knight walked inside the temple, an aura of power and control surrounding it. It walked over to the door, then it illuminated with lines of white light and shattered, launching chunks of rock across the room. A short tunnel led into a dark room.

“The path is opened,” said Hornet, standing next to the door. “One way or another an end awaits inside. I won't be joining you in this. That space is built to sustain your likes. Its bindings would drain me were I to join. Don't be surprised. I'll not risk my own life in your attempt, though if the moment presents I'll aid as I'm able.”

The Knight turned away from her and walked over to Link. Now that it was up close, Link noticed that the nail on its back had a new shine. It was now formed out of many waves and lines of metal. It was so perfectly crafted that it seemed to almost be formed of liquid that had been splashed onto a surface, then solidified mid-splash.

“I will be joining you,” said Link. “I’m pretty sure I have to.”

The Knight moved to enter the Black Egg.

“Ghost of Hallownest,” said Hornet, “you possess the strength to enact an end of your choosing. Would you supplant our birth-cursed sibling, or would you transcend it?”

The Knight walked inside.

Link grabbed the Fierce Deity’s Mask off of his waist. It said not a word. “I’m glad this is the last time I’m putting this on,” he said. He placed the mask on his face. Immediately he doubled over, then turned his head up and screamed as purple light surrounded the mask. A moment later he had taken the form of the fierce deity. He looked like himself when he was older, but his tunic and hat were a light gray and his pants were black. He wore a chestplate over his tunic, with a yellow crescent moon on the right side of his chest and a triangle on the left. He held a sword shaped like a double-helix, with one blade gray and one turquoise. His eyes were solid white, and he wore black war paint on his face.

Link walked into the egg. As he stepped inside, it seemed to be completely and utterly dark, but after walking for a few more moments, two pillars formed of lines of white light illuminated on both sides of him. It became clear that the egg was much bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. He took another step, and a circle of light illuminated under his foot.

As he kept walking, pillars of light kept appearing on both sides of him, near and far. Several times, he thought he saw chains silhouetted against the pillars. He came to a place where a black stone bench, an egg-shaped black stone, and another rock in the shape of a broken eggshell sat. The Knight was sitting on the bench. When Link came within the cluster of stones, the egg lit up with white text. He moved to read it.

“ _ Vessel. Though bound, you shall know the state of the world. _

_ _ “ _ Hallownest will be whole again _ ,” it read.

Beyond the cluster of stones, a doorway glowed orange in the darkness, surrounded by infected vines and bubbles. The Knight got off the bench and started walking toward the doorway. Link followed.

They went through, coming into a large dome-shaped chamber made out of black stone. A few infected vines dotted the room, and black drapes hung from the ceiling. Four colossal chains rooted to the floor in a circle held up a bug suspended the chamber’s center. It had a large, horned head and orange eyes. It wore black shoulder plates and a black cloak. It looked silently at Link and the Knight.

The Knight walked over to one of the chains’ bases and struck it with its nail. A shield of white light illuminated around it. The Knight kept hitting it, and eventually it broke. The chain remained attached to the ground, but only barely. The Knight continued on to the next chain’s base and started striking it.

Link approached another of the chain bases and broke it with a single swing of his sword. He did the same for the last one, just as the Knight finished breaking the second.

The bug stayed still for a moment, then the room began to shake. All the chains suddenly broke at the same time, and the bug burst out of its armor, falling to the ground.

It was tall, twice Fierce Deity Link’s height if its horns were taken into account, with long, lanky limbs. It was missing its left arm, and in its right held a lang and cracked nail that it dragged against the ground. It wore a dark green cloak, ripped and torn, and had a large crack in its white head. It threw back its head and let loose a loud roar.

This was the Hollow Knight.

It didn’t stand a chance.

There are several reasons for this. The main reason was that the Fierce Deity’s Mask was such a powerful artifact that it made losing while wearing it almost impossible. Second, the Knight was a godlike being in its own right, being the child of two higher beings, and perfectly imbued with void. It and Link didn’t make a great team, but Link and Vol did. Finally, the Hollow Knight had only one arm, and had been weakened significantly by the infection. Its attacks included use of its nail and flinging blobs of infection from its body. Halfway through the battle, it began to stab itself in the chest with its nail, blowing all the way through its back. Its movements became more and more limp and slow, and it relied on infection-based attacks more and more.

As it raised its nail to impale itself once again, Hornet suddenly flew into the room, landing on the Hollow Knight’s head and stabbing it with her needle. Her thread wrapped around the Hollow Knight’s body, pinning it to the ground. Essence began to leak out of the crack in its head. “Now!” Hornet shouted.

Link and the Knight struck the Hollow Knight with their Dream Nails, and all three beings fell to the ground. Vol and Hornet stayed behind.

* * *

Link and the Knight appeared on a circular platform in the Dream World, its sides stretching down into the mist. Three smaller platforms floated above them, and a yellow sun floated in the background, brightly illuminating the area.

Link and the Knight climbed to the top platform. Link leaping to each one in a single bound, making two total jumps, and the Knight extending white wings midair to gain extra jump height. Once they reached the top, the Knight faced the sun and pulled its nail off its back, in an obvious challenge, and Link raised his sword, for he had no sheath for so great a weapon.

The sun spread its wings.

A great roar shook the air itself, and the sun disappeared.

Still roaring, a creature appeared before Link and the Knight, a ring of light surrounding it. It had a white furry body, with dozens of wing-like tendrils emerging from its side. Its white legs looked almost metallic. Three spines like a crown emerged from the top of its body, and its face was like a black mask with two yellow eyes.  _ This is the same creature as the statue at the top of Crystal Peak _ , Link realized.

The three small platforms disappeared, and Link and the Knight fell to the ground. The Radiance, for that was its name and she imprinted it in the minds of her opponents, teleported downward to float just above the ground. The Knight looked up, and several screaming faces of energy, some black and some white, emerged above it and blasted the Radiance.

A wall of yellow light came from the left and made its way across the platform. The Knight dashed through it, turning dark and shadowy for the moment it did. Link, having no way to evade, swung his nail through the light, blasting open a small hole. He dove through, and it closed right behind him in an instant.

Orbs of light began to manifest around the Radiance’s body, then flying towards the two combattants. The Knight avoided the attacks, while Link simply broke through them. The Radiance teleported to another part of the platform, then summoned a dozen nails, one by one, around herself. They flew off towards the ground, while small circles of light appeared on the floor beneath Link and the Knight’s feet. They jumped out of the way as spikes shot out, and rolled away from the swords. Link fired a beam of energy from his sword at the Radiance, while the Knight jumped up and began hitting her with its nail.

She leaned her ‘head’ back, then thin beams of light shot out in all directions. A moment later, they widened and thickened. Link and the Knight moved out of the way just in time. She did this three more times, then Link and the Knight leapt up and struck her.

She teleported to above the center of the platform, and a sea of void rose up from the fog, leaving the platform as the only thing above the surface. Nails began raining down from the sky in waves, and when they with the ground, they disappeared. Link and the Knight had to keep dodging the nails, but they managed to get a few hits in every few seconds. Eventually the Knight leapt up to slash her with its nail, and she fell to the ground. Vines of void suddenly leapt up and grabbed her, pinning her down. Her face began to glow, and light flew out in a high geyser.

She teleported away, leaving the void behind, and a mass of platforms appeared above Link and the Knight. One platform closer to the ground allowed access to the rest. They jumped up as the sea of void swallowed the ground they stood on.

The Radiance reappeared floating in the air, she summoned orbs of light and fired them at Link and the Knight. Link blocked, and the Knight jumped away. A wall of light came through again, then she summoned a circle of nails again. Link jumped up to her and struck a few times with his sword, while the Knight fired several black soul projectiles from the other side of the field of platforms. The radiance teleported away again, then shot off three more rounds of light beams. As Link and the Knight approached, she threw swords and light orbs at them, but they reached her and attacked together.

The radiance disappeared, and a point of light appeared high above them. A trail of platforms appeared leading up to it, and the void began to rise again. The shades of the vessels from the abyss rose from the void, while the Radiance began to wildly fire beams of light at Link and the Knight.

As they leapt up the platforms, the light beams became more and more accurate, until they reached the fifteenth and final platform, where the Knight jumped up and delivered a single strike with its nail.

The Radiance held still, paralized, as the Knight hovered in the air. The void sea rose up to the point where the platform Link stood on was barely above the surface. Tendrils of void grabbed the Radiance, and the vessels’ shades watched as the shade of the Hollow Knight emerged, now with both arms. It grabbed the edges of the Radiance’s face, then pried it open. Essence exploded out, revealing a globe of pure light where its face used to be.

The Knight’s shell burst out of its body, tentacles writhing. It began to whip the Radiance in its expose weak point. It landed the final blow, and essence poured out. The light grew larger and brighter, as the vines dragged it into the void. Link leapt up high, then landed on the Radiance, driving his sword deep inside it, and the void devoured everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew! So that was the final battle, and I hope you enjoyed it. There’s at least one more chapter still to come, so don’t leave yet, alright?


	31. A Few Final Tasks

When Link woke up, he was laying in a cold pool of void, which drained into the stone beneath him. He was laying in a crater where the Black egg used to be. Vol hovered protectively above him, and Hornet lay beside him, unconscious. Link stood, walked to the edge of the crater, and sat down.

Hornet twitched, then awoke. She stood up, then looked around, seeing the Knight’s white head, cracked and broken. It was the only remnant of either the Knight or the Hollow Knight, nothing else. “It did it...” she said, looking up at Link. “My entire life, all I’ve known was the fight against the infection. Now it’s finally over.”

“Hmm...” said Link. He pushed himself to his feet. “I’m sure I can’t understand it, but I’m happy for you.”

“Link, why are your clothes gray?” Hornet asked.

Link slipped, falling off his perch and back into the crater.

“Ow...” he said, rubbing his head. He looked down at his tunic. Sure enough, it was a medium gray. A perfect mix of the Fierce Deity’s tunic and the Knight’s cloak. His hat was the same color. He stood up. “Well, I was getting a little tired of that old green, but this is a bit bland.” He turned his head to see what had tripped him and found that he was wearing a green cape that perfectly complemented his tunic. “Oh, now that’s better,” he said. Oddly enough, his sword and shield were not obstructed by the cape at all, and remained easy as ever to draw.

Link drew his sword. It had once been steel with a gold diamond pattern on it, but was now gold and white instead. It felt stronger, lighter, and sharper as well. He sheathed it gain, then checked his bag. “All of my masks are gone...” he said. “except the mask maker’s.”

Hornet watched all of this with mild amusement and confusion. “Link, what’s happening?” she asked.

“Well...” said Link, “I was supposed to transform into a ‘higher being’ or something when we fought the infection. I guess that includes my clothes too.”

“Out of all I’ve seen in my life,” said Hornet, chuckling, “you are by far the strangest.”

“I’m sure that’s true,” said Link, “but don’t forget that this entire experience of coming to Hallownest is the weirdest thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“I do not doubt,” said Hornet.

"Well, I've got a few things to do," said Link. "If you ever need me, I'll probably be in Dirtmouth." He pulled himself out of the crater, then left the temple."

Hornet allowed herself a small laugh. "Somehow, I feel that our adventures are far from over, Link," she said.

* * *

Link made his way through the crossroads, now completely devoid of infection, and into the old tunnel that was the entrance to the Crystal Peak. He came into the chamber where the little miner bug was. He walked down the tunnel she'd dug, where he found her, sitting on the ground. She was leaning on her pickaxe, seemingly in a trance.

Link took a breath, then got out his ocarina and began to play the song he'd heard from her earlier. He played for a while, then heard her start to mumble. Eventually she began to sing along.

"B-b-bury my mother, pale and slight,

"b-bury my father, with his eyes shut tight!

"Bury my sisters, two by two,

"and then when you're done, let's bury me toooo...

"Ohh, bury the Knight, with her broken nail,

"bury the lady, lovely and pale!

"Bury the priest in his tattered gown,

"then bury the beggar with his shining croooown!"

She looked up from her trance. “Oh! H-h-hello there!” she said, standing up. “I-I don’t know why, but I feel I’ve just had such a strange dream. What brings you down here? If you’re l-looking for wealth, just look around you! These crystals are w-w-worth a fortune, as long as you’re willing to work for it.”

“I’m not here for money,” said Link.

“Oh! Are you an explorer? My name is Myla,” said the bug.

“I’m Link,” said Link.

“These crystals are worth a fair b-b-bit, but I know there’s something more valuable deeper in. Do you see that glow?” Myla said, indicating towards the crystal wall, where a dim light was hidden.

“Yeah,” said Link.

“I’m going to d-d-dig my way through to there eventually!” said Myla. “No matter how l-long it it takes.”

“Hmm,” said Link.

“I’ll tell you when I find it, in case you w-want to see it,” said Myla.

“Sure,” said Link.

* * *

He went back down to the Resting grounds, then into the Seer’s cavern. She wasn’t there, and a few circles of essence floated around where she used to be. Link left, then went down to the blue lake. Quirrel was gone from the shore, and his nail stuck out of the ground.

“Figures...” Link said.

* * *

Having figured out that he could use his new cape to dash a few yards forward, he went down to kingdom’s edge, where he found Oro’s hut.

“I’m ready to learn your nail art now,” he said as he walked inside.

“Very well, then,” said Oro. “Pay up.”

A few hours later, Link walked out of Oro’s hut with a mastery of the Dash Slash.

* * *

Next, he went to Greenpath, where he traveled to the Hunter’s chamber.

“Your journal...let me see it!” said the Hunter from his cave.

Link held out the journal.

“Yes... Yes!” said the Hunter. “The Hunter's journal is complete!You have proven yourself a true hunter, a master of killing, and so with great pleasure I will give you the reward you deserve…” The ground began to shake.

“Wait, what kind of rew-” Link said, before the ground fell out beneath him, dropping him into a large gray cavern, devoid of Greenpath’s usual life. Oddly enough, he managed to land perfectly on his feet, and the fall didn’t hurt him at all.

The Hunter fell down with him, landing right in front of him. It was clear now that the cave was just a hood, covering the Hunter’s head. His true body was black and lanky, looking like a stick figure a young hylian would draw.

He leaned back his head and let out a loud roar. Link drew his sword and shield, and Vol readied a ball of fire, but the Hunter simply held out his hand. Link put away his weapons, then jumped onto the Hunter’s hand with his new jumping abilities, and picked up what it was the Hunter was holding. It was one of the stones scattered around his cavern, which were shaped like teeth or a rhino’s horn. It had a strange symbol engraved on it.

“You have my mark, and you shall be recognised as one of my rare caste. Fellow Hunter, I have nothing else to give you.”

* * *

Link left the Hunter’s chamber, and while wandering through Greenpath, found a huge tunnel. It went on farther than he could see, and all of its sides were covered in spikes. The ceiling was too high to use the hookshot to swing across. Somehow, though, Link felt that he could make it across. He focused his energy in his feet. Wind started to whip around him in an upward funnel, waving his cape. A circle of short pink crystals grew around him, then another, these slightly taller. The third and final circle of crystals grew, then all three shattered, and Link shot off with tremendous speed.

At the end of the tunnel was a cavern and a hut covered in spiked vines. Link walked inside, where there was a room like the one in Oro and Mato’s huts. Another nailmaster sat at a table, and the Nailsmith from the city sat across from him. He was round, with a navy blue exoskeleton and a long horn on its forehead. A mass of white fluff like a beard hung from his head. The two bugs were hunched over the table, working on making a few small models.

The Nailsmith, who was the one facing Link, noticed him. He gave him a small wave. “Sheo, there’s a visitor,” he said.

The nailmaster turned around. “Ah, what brings you to such a place?” he asked. “Curiosity?”

“Yep,” said Link. “My name is Link.”

“I am Sheo, and in a previous life I was a Nailmaster,” said the bug. “Yes, the only thing that drove me was becoming stronger and honing my skills with a nail. I imagined it was my one calling in life, but that feeling faded over time. Now I seek a new calling, something that speaks to my soul and compels me forward. That's why I spend my time here, secluded, trying to master the art of creation. Painting, sculpting... these things bring a different kind of pleasure.”

“Okay,” said Link.

Both bugs chuckled. “Mmm,” said Sheo. “You don't seem very moved by what I've said. Was it Sheo the Nailmaster you were looking for? Did you come to learn a Nail Art? I'll teach you if you insist…”

“That’d be cool,” said Link.

Sheo taught Link the great slash.

* * *

Link came out of the stag station in Dirtmouth. He walked over to where the empty houses were, and after looking at them, opened the door into a relatively small house with a single window. The inside was old, dark, and dusty. It had a single bed and a small table. Link pulled out his old bottled lumafly and set it on the table.

“Well, Vol,” said Link, “looks like we’re settling down here, at least for a little while.”


End file.
